s 






■-s^ar'ss* 






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- _JP 



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^LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.? 






# 
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f UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. i\ 



AN ^ *\ 

APOLOGY 



FOR THE 



DISBELIEF 



-REVEALED RELIGION 

Confift'ng of 

TWO TRACTS REPRINTED; 

THE LATTER WITH SOME ADDITIONS, 



By JOHN IfiOLLIS, %. 



" I look upon the right of private judgment in every con- 
i( cern refpedting God and ourfelves, as fuperior to the con* 
" troul of human authority ; and have ever regai ded free d'.f- 
*' qu'ifition as the beji mean of illustrating the dafirine, and ejla<° 
M lifting the truth ofChriftianity" 

Bishop of Llandafp. 



LONDON: 

FEINTED IN THE YEAR 1801, 



w 



X Bensley, Printer, Bolt Court, Fleet Street, 



PREFACE 

T'o the Second Edition. 



Being diflatisfied with the manner 
in which the two following pieces 
were originally printed, I have deter- 
mined to reprint them, and, at the 
fame time, to avail myfelf of the op- 
portunity of prefenting the reader 
with fome additional matter, in con- 
firmation of my argument. I have 
determined, I fay, to reprmt, but not 
to republi/k them. The fecond, in- 
deed, of thefe pieces never was pub- 
lijlied, though the contrary is afferted 
in the Retrofpe6l of Domeftic Li- 
terature, w T hich appears in the ninth 
volume of the Monthly Magazine. 
A 2 What 



iv Preface* 

What relates to me, I fhall trans- 
cribe, and then lhall take the liberty 
of commenting upon it. 

*' Mr. Hollis (fays the retrofpec- 
** tor) has publifhed An Apology for 
c( the Difbelief of Revealed Religion. 
" If any apology be neceffary for a 
" difbelief of revealed religion, as 
u this refpedtable infidel conceives it 
" is, it fhould be made to the throne 
*' of heaven: we acknowledge the 
u jurifdidtion of no earthly tribunal 
" in matters of religion. Belief is 
" an adt not of volition, but of ne- 
" ceffity. Whether the publication 
" of a man's reafons for difbelief re- 
* : quires an apology, is a different 
" queftion ; at any rate, we fee not 
" the ufe of fuch a pamphlet as the 
" prefent, which has little novelty 



of argument. 



This 



Preface* V 

This critic, it Ihould feem, takes 
it for granted, that an Apology implies 
the acknowledgment of fomethinsc 
wrong, and, confequently, hlameable. 
Did he then never read, or, if he has 
not read, did he never hear of, cer- 
tain apologies of early christians for 
their religion ? But if he has nei- 
ther read nor heard of fuch ancient 
writings, he has certainly heard of, 
and pofilbly he may have read, a very 
recent Apology for the Bible, by a 
right reverend biihop. Now does 
this critic imagine either that the 
chriiiians alluded to, meant to ac- 
knowledge how blameable they were 
in making profeflion of a bad reli- 
gion, or that the bifhop intended to 
confefs the wickedneis of the book 
for which he has thought fit to pub- 
lifh his celebrated Apology .2 How- 
A 3 ever 



vi Preface, 

ever well informed this critic might 
be, it appears, he had yet to learn, 
that the term apology (whatever it 
fignifies in vulgar fpeech) is iifed ff» 
nonymoufly with the term, defence. 

But this fagacious critic, adopting 
the vulgar fenfe of the term, inti- 
mates that it may be very proper to 
offer an apology to the throne of hea- 
ven for difbelief, while, at the fame 
time, he argues, that there can be 
nothing wrong in a man's belief/ be- 
cause it is not an a£fc of volition #\ So^. 
it lhould feem, according to him, 

% He fhould have faid a voluntary aff. 
Every fuch aft has a volition preceding it, but 
33 not iifelf volition. They differ, as caufe and 
effeft* Properly fpeaking, there is no fuch 
thing as an ael of volition. Volition is Tijtatc 
of mind from which the acts naturally flow 
which we term voluntary*, 

that 



Preface. vii 

that though a man, with refpedl to 
fome certain article of his conduct, 
may be confcious of no wrong, it 
may be very proper for him, never- 
thelefs, to confefs his guilt refpe<fl- 
ing that very article, before the throne 
of heaven. 

This critic aiTerts, that in my 
pamphlet there is little novelty of 
argument. Now, with all juft «&£- oe~ * 
ference to his great reading, I am 
ilill difpofed to imagine, that although 
others have pointed out numerous 
immoralities contained in the holy 
books, yet the inffcances which I h^^^- 
infilled upon are, at leaft fome of 
them, new. Generally fpeaking, the 
difcourfes of the founder of chrif- 
tianity have been fuppofed to exhibit 
nothing but the pureft and moft 
A 4 perfecl 



viii Preface. 

perfect morality. Whether they 
are alt worthy of fuch an eulogy, I 
would requeft any ferious and inteU 
ligent man to decide, after he has 
read my ftri£tures upon two diftin- 
guifhed parables: which remarks I 
believe to be abfolntely new;, and if 
well-founded (as I am fatisfied they 
are), they are of great moment. 

J do not pretend that the argument 
is new, by which I have attempted 
to ihew, and have, I think, ihewn> 
that if we admit the dod:rine taught 
both by the difciples of Chriit and 
by Chriit himfelf concerning the 
Supreme Exiftence, we muit admit 
the Supreme to be (however horri- 
ble the idea) not a good Being, but 
the very reverfe. To this argument, 
however, I am particularly defirous 

of 



Preface. ix 

of engaging the attention of liberal 
christians: becaufe they have oppofed 
a fimilar one to the doctrine of Cal- 
vin. Mine is oppofed to that of 
Chrift ; who, though a perfonage 
juftly revered for the purityof his 
intentions and the ardour of his be* 
nevolence, feems, relative to the 
grand fubject of DEITY, not to have 
comprehended the full import of 
what he himfelf taught. 

The following argument is, I be- 
lieve, a new one, I have argued that 
the pretentions of chrifrianitv to a 
heavenly and miraculous origin can 
have no juft foundation, becaufe it 
has failed in refpc£t of its object. Its 
objedl is allowed to have been the 
reformation of the world. Now the 
world has not been reformed. 

Moreover, 



X Preface. 

Moreover, whereas fome of the 
ableft champions of chriftianity, are 
the Strenuous advocates of free in- 
quiry, and have even given us to un- 
derstand that the fpirit of the chris- 
tian religion is a liberal fpirit, and 
friendly to philofophical in veftigation; 
I, on the contrary, have advanced 
fomewhat which I think is new, in 
order to Shew that the fpirit of this 
religion is a favi/h fpirit, and liofile 
to intellectual improvement. 

But what is the fpirit of our not- 
able critic? He, like fome other 
men, has the goodnefs to permit us 
to think for ourfelves. Nevertheless > 
he infmuates that, at leaft, it is quef- 
tionable whether a man Should be~ 
left at liberty to publi/h his thoughts. 
And yet he, like other confiftent 
6 people r 



Preface. xi 

people, is, I dare fay, for a free prefs; 
and moil probably would not heii- 
tate to concede — That the proper 
mean of eliciting truth is free dif- 
mifjii 

As my Apology was neither ad- 
vertifed nor fold, and only diftri- 
buted among friends and acquaint- 
ance, I did not exped: that any pe- 
riodical critic would honour it with 
his notice. If, however, the authorif- 
ed Reviewer in the Monthly Maga- 
zine fliould beftow any attention 
upon it ; in that cafe, it feemed to 
me impoiiible that I Ihould meet 
with any other than the moft liberal 
treatment. How much liberality 
is exhibited in the paflage above 
cited let the reader judge; and, if 
this preface fliould come into the 

hands 



^ii Preface. 

hands of the editor of that valuable 
mifcellany, let him determine how 
much honour is reflected upon it by 
fuch criticifm. 



Since the above was written, the 
New Annual Regifter for 1 799 has 
heen brought to me ; and I there 
find it afferted, in the Review of 
Domeftic Literature, that I have 
piibltfhed an Apology, &e. 

The Reviewer exprcffes his fur- 
prifethatl fhould, " even by impli- 
u cation, adduce the exiftence of the 
u African Slave Trade as an argu- 
" ment againil chriftianity, becaufe 
M it is an evil that has obtained only 

u fmcc 



Preface. xiii. 

" iince that religion has become 
(X known. Might he not adds the 
" Reviewer) with equal juftice allege 
" againft it every other civil and 
* moral outrage on the rights and 
u feelings of mankind which has 
" originated in what is called the 
" chriftian world fince the reijin of 
" the emperor Conftantine? Might 
w he not, with equal fairnefs and 
H weight in point of argument, af* 
" tribe to it that difeafe which many 
" writers contend the chriftian na- 
•-' vigator Columbus imported from 
u America : M 

From hence the reader is naturally 
led to conceive that I have repre- 
sented the African flave trade as hav- 
ing originated from the chriftian re- 
ligion . I have dcjne no fuch thing* 

But 



2civ Preface. 

But I have reafoned after this man- 
ner: — If the objed: of the Supreme 
Being, in fending the chriftian reli- 
gion into the world, was the refor- 
mation of mankind, i. e^ their recovery 
to virtue and happinefs, the grievous 
and manifold evils exifting in the 
world, fmce the chriftian asra, and 
that horrid enormity, the African 
Have trade, particularly, which, fmce 
that aera, has fprung up infpite of the 
influence of chriftianity, prove that 
the obje<3: of it has not been attained. 
Chriftianity, it has been faid, was 
intended as a remedy to cure the 
" civil and moral outrages, &c." 
which have fo dreadfully prevailed: 
but theie evils Jiave not leen cured. 
On the contrary, peculiar evils , of the 
worft defcription, have arifen out of 
this very remedy v Now xather than 

believe 



Preface. xv 

believe that the Supreme Being has 
been thus cruelly difappointed in re- 
fpe& of his objed:, I am difpofed to 
believe that he never had any fuch 
obje6l. 

The Reviewer, Idare fay, will not 
blufh for having thus mifreprefented 
my argument. If this preface, how- 
ever, fhould happen to fall in his 
way, I beg leave to aflure him that, 
if I had undertaken to animadvert 
publicly on any production of his, 
or any other man's, and had done it 
after his [the reviewer's] fafhion, it 
would not, I think, be poffible for 
me to efcape my ow?i reproaches. 



SOBER 



SOBER AKD SERIOU3 

REASONS for SCEPTICISM, 

AS IT CONCERNS 

REVEALED RELIGION. 



IN A LETT EH TO A FRIEND, 



" Of good and evil much, 



M And much of mortal man ray thought revolv'd." 

Ak f. n s i d s 



B 



ADVERTISEMENT, 

Printed with thefirji Edition. 



It is well known, there is a defcrip- 
tion of men who have fufficient liber- 
ality to permit one to think freely on 
all fubjecls : but by them it is not 
permitted on all fubje&s to exprefs, 
or, ho wever, to pubTifli, one's thoughts : 
and, I am afraid, fome of my friends, 
for whom I have a great regard, be- 
long to that clafs. It is their opinion, 
that mo/i things fliould be brought 
before the public, in order to their 
being properly eftimated: I think fo 
of #// things, of importance, in which 
the public is concerned. 



B 2 



JDEAR SIR, 

You will allow me, I am 
fure, the privilege of a friend, to communi- 
cate to you a matter which greatly con- 
cerns me; and I flatter myfelf that you 
will feel interefted on the occafion. I 
will, therefore, without further preface, 
acquaint you that a very important altera- 
tion has taken place in my fentiments, and 
lay before you the confiderations whereby 
this has been brought about* 

During a courfe of years, my mind has 
been more or lefs affected by doubts re- 
fpefting Revelation; yet they feemed to be 
overborne by the arguments which I was 
able to produce in favour of it; fo that I 
B 3 con- 



6 Sober and Serious Reafons, &c, 

conceived myfelf to be a rational believer: 
but, having lately been induced to inftitute 
a new and ferious inquiry, the confequence 
is, I find myfelf conflrained to become a 
Sceptic. 

This is certainly what I did not wifh for. 
My prejudices feem to have lain on the fide 
of revealed religion > and (with fuch ability 
as I had) I have endeavoured to fupport 
it. Indeed, when fomc perfons remember 
me fo zealous an advocate for that caufe 
as to render my prudence questionable, 
tliey may poffibly fufpeci me of levity. In 
fo doing, however, they would wrong me. 
That which I formerly venerated as a 
chriftian, I continue ftill to venerate. But, 
whereas I formerly imagined the doctrines 
of chriftianity ( without giving their exprefs 
fanftion) were in very good accord with 
thofe ideas of a benevolent providence, 
furnifhed by my philofophy, and I rejoiced 
to have my expe&ations of future exiftence 

confirmed 



Sober and Serious Reafons> &c. J 

confirmed by the chriftian revelation — ic 
now appears evident that the difference is 
irreconcileable between thofe do&rines 
and my philofophical ideas and profpects. 
Thefe laft are fo happily and forcibly re- 
prefented by Dr. Prieftley, in his dedica- 
tion of the Treatife on Neceffity to the late 
Dr. Jebb, that I fhall borrow what here 
follows. " You and 1, Sir (fays Dr. P.), 
u rejoice in the belief that the whole hu- 
<f man race are under the fame wbolefone 
<c difciplwe, and that they will all certainly 
fc derive the moft valuable advantages 
" from it, though in different degrees, in 
u different ways, and at different periods; 
(< that even the perfecutors are only giving 
cc the precedence to the perfecuted, and 
<c advancing; them to a much higher de- 
" gree of perfection and happinefs; and 
" that they muft themfelves for the fame 
" benevolent purpofe undergo a more fe- 
" vere difcipline than that which they are 
f< the means of adminiftering to others*" 
B 4 « With 



•8 Sbher and Serious ReafonSj &c* 

fC With this perfuafion, we cannot but 
* c confider every being and every thing in 
f c a favourable light. Every perfon with 
€C whom we have any connexion is & friend, 
" and every event in life a benefit ; while 
€t God is equally the father and the friend 
cc of the whole creation." 

Such appeared to me to be the prefent 
condition, and fuch the future deftiny, of 
human kind : and fuch they (till appear. I 
mean to fay, that, in my opinion, this is 
the moft reafonable mode of explaining 
the phenomena of human nature, and hu- 
man affairs. But, if the fcriptures are to 
determine us, we muft abandon, as altoge- 
ther vifionary, our delightful ideas and joy- 
ful expectations derived from fuch a bene- 
volent confutation of things, however wor- 
thy we may deem fuch a conftitution tob e 
of Him who is the firft, the greateft, and the 
beft of all. In reality, what is reprefented 
in the New Teftament as the future and final 

dejlination 



Svber and Serious Reajons, &c* g 

dejlination of mankind forms a contrail wuh 
it mod melancholy and diftreiTing* — Let 
«s appeal to what we find there, and ef- 
pecially to what are faid to be the words 
of Chrift himfelf. 

In the 5th chapter of Matthew, verfes 
29th and 30th, the words of Jefus Chrift. 
are thus recorded : " If thy right eye of- 
<c fend thee, pluck it out and caft it from 
cc thee : for it is profitable for thee that 
"one of thy members fhould perifh, and 
" not that thy whole body fhould be caft 
" into hell. And if thy right hand offend 
" thee, cut it off, and caft it from thee: for 
Cf it is profitable for thee that one of thy 
<Q members fhould perilh, and not that thy 
" whole body fhould be caft into helL" 

Now, in cafe we fhould not underftand 
what is meant by the phrafe caft into hel!> 
we may find the matter more fully exprefs- 
ed in the 18th chapter, and the 9th verfe, 
where the phrafe ufed is tverldfting fire. 

He 



10 Sober and Serious Reafons, &c. 

He is likewife faid by Mark to have been 
ilill more explicit on the fame fubjeft. It 
will anfwer my purpofe to tranfcribe the 
paffage. 

cc If thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it 
Cf is better for thee to enter into life maim- 
cc ed, than, having two hands, to go into 
cc hell, into the fire that never /ball be 
" quenched: where their worm dieth not, 
cc and the fire is not quenched. And if thy 
-" foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better 
" for thee to enter halt into life, than, hav- 
,ec ing two feet, to be caft into hell, into the 
^ c fire that never Jhall be quenched: where 
Cf their worm dieth not, and the fire is not 
c€ quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, 
" pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter 
" the kingdom of God with one eye, than, 
" having two eyes, to be caft into hell-fire: 
cc where their worm dieth not, and thtfire 
" is not quenched. For every one fhall be 
"Jolted with fire *." 

* Mark. chap. ix. 

From 



Sober and Serious Reafons^ &c. I r 

From the account which Luke gives us, 
it appears, that when one inquired ofChrift, 
Whether there werefeza to be faved ? he 
declined giving a direct anfwer, by faying, 
" Strive to enter in at the ft rait gate: 
u for many, I fay unto you, will feek to 
<c enter in, and (hall not be able/' Never- 
thelefs, we learn from Matthew, that he 
taught thus : " Enter ye in at the ftraic 
" gate ; for wide is the gate and broad is 
" the way that leadeth to defiruulion, and 
c ? many there be which go in thereat : be- 
iC caufe ftrait is the gate and narrow is 
" the way which leadeth unto life, and few 
" there be that find it." Let us now turn 
to that remarkable prayer of Chrift, which 
we find in the 17th chapter of John, and 
in which are the following expreffions : 
<f The men which thou gaveft me cut cf 
€t the world — I pray for them : I pray not 
<c for the world" Agreeably to this dis- 
tinction, John fays, near the conclufion of 
his firft epiftle, " We know that zve are of 

" God, 



12 Sober and Serious Reafons, &c. 

" God, and the whole world lieth in wicked- 
cc nefs." And, in perfe6t harmony with 
John, Paul fays to the Corinthians, " We 
rc are ihafiened of the Lord, that we fhould 
11 not be condemned with the world *-." 

I might have added more quotations to 
the fame effe£h but I think it is fufficiently 
evident what is the dejiination of mankind 
according to the account given in the New 
Teftament : and it feems a very natural re- 
flexion, that, if this be the true account, 
what was affirmed of Judas Ifcariot might, 
with as much reafon, be predicated of nil 
men (the little flock of true chriftians ex- 
cepted), viz. It were good for them not to 
have been> or not to be> born. Indeed I fuf- 
pe£t that the bell and mod intelligent 
chriftians have attended to this fubjedt 
very reluftantly. Some have taken great 
pains to aggravate what are called the de- 
merits of men, in order to vindicate the 

* 1 Cor. xi. 32. 

ways 



Sober and Serious Reafons> &c. 1 3 

ways of God; and others, being unable to 
endure the thought of eternal punifhment, 
have (with the beft intentions, and becaufe 
their intentions were fo good) cheated 
themfelves into the belief that the future 
punifhments of the chriftian religion were 
only temporary. However, if we fhould 
fuppofe the human race to be deftined by 
their Maker to exift in a ftate of mifery 
during a term of a hundred thou/and years, 
and, at the end of that term, that both their 
mifery and their exiftence fhould ceaje: 
although the fate of mankind would then 
indeed be infinitely lefs dreadful, the diffi- 
culty would not be removed. 

There is, I imagine, in this country, at 
prefent, a very confiderable number of fe- 
rious and reflecting chriftians, who have 
embraced the philofophical doftrine of 
neceffity. And (as what we wilh to be 
true, we are more or lefs prepared to ad- 
mit upon infufficient evidence) thefc per- 

fbfiSj 



14 Sober and Serious Reafons, &c 
fons, feeing the very happy and defirable 
confequences refuking from that do&rine 
in conjundlion with the belief of a perfect 
Deity, becaufe they wijhed it y feem to have 
perfuaded themfelves that they have ac- 
tually/^/?;/ their philofophical do&rine in 
the books of fcripture. Or elfe, perhaps, 
they have conceived that, by applying the 
philofophical theory, they can folve diffi- 
culties, which occur in thofe books, not 
folvable by any other procefs. The mif- 
fortune is, the theory will not apply. 

The fcriptural doftrines of the divine 
fore-knowledge, and of a fcheme of pro- 
vidence, which, while comprehending the 
general affairs of the world, is reprefented 
as extending likewife to the concerns of 
each individual, coincide very well with the 
philofophical do&rine of neceffity. But 
nothing can be more repugnant to it than 
what the fcriptures teach us concerning 
punijhments, efpecially never -ending punijh- 
i mentSj 



Sober and Serious Reafons, &e. ir 
merits, and the demerits of all mankind (ex- 
cept the few who enter in at the ftrait 
gate), which, according to the fcriptures, 
render thofe puniihments proper, and, as it 
fhould feem, even neceffary, to be in Aid- 
ed on them by a juft and righteous God. 

It feems natural enough for a benevolent 
neceffarian to confider thofe paffages of 
fcripture, where the benevolence of the 
Deity is mentioned, as perfectly confonant 
with his philofophy. They are fo in reality. 
But this will never fnew that the happy 
rejults of his philofophy have thejcriptural 
fanftion. On the other hand, thofe ex- 
plicit declarations of Chrift, relative to fu- 
ture punifhment, together with the other 
paflages equally explicit, above cited, are 
totally adverfe and irreconcileable. And, 
in my apprehenfiop, they are no more ca- 
pable of being reconciled to that character 
of benevolence which every chriftian, whe- 
ther a neceliarian or no, afcribes to God. 

There 



1 6 Sober and Serious Reafons f tsfc. 

There is fcarccly any chriftian who would 
deny theforeknowledge of God, although he 
fhould believe the free will of man. But, 
fhould he, at the fame time, believe alfo 
the doftrine of eternal pinijhment, it would 
not be poffible for him to withhold his af- 
fent to the following propofition : That 
the Creator, when he gave exigence to hu- 
man beings, endowed them with a power 
whereby, he certainly knew, they would 
make themfelves eternally mijerable. Indeed 
the fcriptural account of the final defiination 
of the human race appears to me/hocking 
(as I fhould think it would to any confi- 
derate man), not only when contemplated 
as it is fimply in itfelf, but becaufe it im- 
preffes on the mind fuch an idea of the 
conduct of Almighty God as goes to the 
annihilation of his moral attributes. 

All thofe who, holding man to be a free 

agent, a felf-determined being, think that 

his fins require punifiiment to follow them, 

6 and 



Sober and Serious Reafons, i£c. 17 

and that they ought not injujiice to go un- 
punijhed, do neverthelefs, I prefume, judge 
that the pumjhment ought to be proportion- 
ate to the offence. 

Others, ?2;ain, who defcribe human na- 
ture in the fame way, think that, where the 
power and wifdom of Government are 
adequate to the purpofe, all punifhment 
ought to be fo applied as that, while it 
operates for an example, it fhould reform 
the offender. 

But, as for me, who am thoroughly con- 
vinced that, agreeably to the philofophical 
do6trine of neceffity, every man is what he 
is, inevitably, in confequence of that fitua- 
tion and thofe clrcumftances which have 
been affigned him by his Maker, — how 
can I refledh without horror, on what has 
been adduced from the chriftian fcriptures 
relative to the future and final condition of 
mankind, if I prcferve the lead veneration 
C for 



1 8 Sober and Serious Reafons, istc. 

for that which is indeed infinitely venera- 
ble — the character of Deity? 

Every man (in what way foever he came 
by them) is pofleffed of the ideas ofjufrice 
and benevolence. He efteems his fellow 
man who is juft and benevolent to be a 
good charafter; and he cannot help fo 
doing. And if he could believe in a God 
who was not juft and benevolent, he could 
not efteem fuch a being to be a good cha- 
racter if he would. If he is upright, he- 
judges of thofe around him by the apof- 
rolical maxim, u He that doeth righteouf- 
c * nefs is righteous/' And any juft idea 
he can form of his Maker's moral charac- 
ter muft be formed in the fame way. Let 
any perfon, then, fuppofe the fcriptural 
account of the final deftination of mankind 
to be fuch as I think 1 have fhewn it to 
be. In that cafe he muft either admit the 
account to be falfe, or he muft own, I ap- 
prehend, that the fcriptural Deity is not a 

iuft 



Sober and Serious Reafons, &c» 1 9 

juft and benevolent being. For my part, 
I am perfuaded that it is the true fcriptu- 
ral account; but I am, at lead, equally 
perfuaded, for I am well convinced, that 
it is in it/elf falfe. This, dear Sir, is my 
grand objection to chriftianity, and the 
principal ground of my fcepticifm : I have 
therefore naturally mentioned it firft. My 
mind, however, is much impreffed by the 
hiftory of the extermination cfthe Canaanites: 
and, moreover, I cannot help thinking, 
that the very notion of Miracles and Re- 
velation is attended with much difficulty. 

I am fenfible that thefe my two remain- 
ing objeftions, of which I am about to 
fpeak, are far from being new: but the 
queftion is, — Have they ever received a 
fatisfadtory reply ? The firft of them, I 
think, certainly has not: efpecially fince I 
have had the pleafure of reading the letters 
efied to Thomas Paine by the learned 
and ingenious Bifhop of LandafF. His 
C 2 Lord (hip 



20 Sober and Serious Reafons, &c* 
Lordfhip expreffes his aftonifhment that 
fo acute a reafoner, as Mr. Paine, fhould 
attempt to difparage the Bible by bringing 
forward this exploded and frequently re- 
futed objedtion of Morgan, Tindal, and 
Bolingbroke. Neverthelefs, he has taken 
confiderable pains to produce another re- 
futation. In my opinion, however, he has 
failed: and I will now give you the rea- 
fons on which that opinion is founded. 
But previously I fhall make the following 
extraft from his Lordfhip's firft letter. 
*< You profefs yourfelf " (fays his Lord- 
fhip) " to be a deift, and to believe that 
cc there is a God, who created the univerfe, 
cc and eftablifhed the laws of nature by 
cc which it is fuftained in exiftence. You 
* c profefs that from the contemplation of 
" the works of God, you derive a know- 
" ledge of his attributes ; and you rejedt 
" the Bible, becaufe it afcribes to God 
c< things inconfiftent (as you fuppofe) with 
c< the attributes which you have difcover- 



Sober and Serious Reafons, &c. 21 

Cf ed to belong to him ; in particular, you 
" think it repugnant to his moral juftice, 
cc that he (hould doom to deftruction the 
cc crying or the fmiling infants of the Ca~ 
f 1 naanites. — Why do you not maintain it 
cc to be repugnant to his moral juftice, that 
Cf he {hould fuffer crying or fmiling in- 
" fants to be fvvallowed up by an earth- 
<c quake, drowned by an inundation, con- 
cc fumed by a fire, ftarved by a famine, or 
" deftroyed by a peftilence ? The word of 
<c God is in perfect harmony with his 
Cl work y crying or fmiling infants are fub- 
" je-ftcd to death in both. We believe 
" that the earth, at the exprefs command 
" of God, opened her mouth and fwallow- 
cc ed up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, 
cc with their wives, their fons, and their 
" little ones. This you efteem fo repug- 
" nant to God's moral juftice, that you 
cc fpurn, as fpurious, the book in which 
cc the circumftance is related. When Ca 
" tania^ Lima, and Lifbon, were feverally 
C 3 « deftroyed 



%z Sober and Serious Reafons, &c. 

" deftroyed by earthquakes, men with 
" their wives, their fons, and their little 
"ones, were fwallowed up alive: — why 
" do you not fpurn, as fpurious, the book 
f< of nature, in which this fact is certainly 
fC written, and from the perufal of which 
€ i you infer the moral juftice of God ? 
" You will, probably, reply, that the evils, 
<c which the Canaanites fufxered from the 
<f exprefs command of God, were different 
" from thofe which are brought on man- 
cc kind by the operation of the laws of na- 
" cure.— Different 1 in what?— Not in 
Cf the magnitude of the evil — -not in the 
" fubje&s of fu fife ranee — not in the author 
" of it- — for my philofophy, at lead, in- 
" ftrufts me to believe that God not only 
€C primarily formed, but that he hath 
u through all ages executed. the laws of 
" nature; and that he will through all eter- 
" nity adminifter them, for the general 
cc happinefs of his creatures, whether we 
u can, on every occaficn, difcern that end 
€c or not. 

6 « I am 



Sober and Serious Reafons^ &c. 2£ 

cc I am far from being guilty of the im- 
c .« piety of questioning the exiftence of the 
" moral juftice of God, as proved either 
" by natural or revealed religion s what I 
" contend for is fhortly this — that you 
" have no right, in fairnefs of reafoning, 
" to urge any apparent deviation from 
" moral juflie as an argument againft re- 
V vealed religion, becaufe you do not urge 
" an equally apparent deviation from it as 
u an argument againft natural religion: 
cc you rejeft the former and admit the 
" latter, without adverting that they muft 
cc Hand, or fall together *J' 

Forbearing to make any comment on 
the ftyle of the paragraphs I have quoted, 
I take the liberty to obfervc> that when 
his Lordlliip would prove there is no dif- 
ference between the deftruftion refulting 
from a natural event and the deftru&ion 
executed by the hands cf the Israelites at the 

* See Letters to T. Paine, pages U> 15, 1$ 
17, 19. 

C 4 command 



24 Sober and Serious Re af oris, &c.. 
command of God, and when he, for that end,, 
enumerates feveral circumftances in which 
thefe two things agree > he omits one, and 
that an important one, in which they will 
be found to differ effentially. Admitting 
God to be the author of both, no man can 
truly affirm the intention to have been the 
fame in both cafes, till he fhall be intitled 
to affirm that Calamity and Punifhment 
zxtfynonymous. But all men confent to dif- 
tingaifb between thefe things. That there- 
are natural punifhments I will not deny.. 
When the confcience of our third, royal 
Richard found him out, and the horrible 
fpeftres, of thofe who had fallen viftims 
to his cruel tyranny, prefented themfelves. 
to his imagination*, he may be faid to 
have endured, not merely a calamity, but 
a natural punifhment. When the plague 
deftroyed the good Howard, the philan- 
thropift, at Cherfon, it was not a punifh- 

* Whether this be literally the hiitorical truth 
is of no importance to my argument, 

meat, 



Sober and Serious Reafom y &c. 25 
ment, but a fad calamity. And it is wor- 
thy of our confideration, that it is record- 
ed, when a notorious calamity befel fome 
( Galileans, and another fimilar matter hap- 
pened to certain perions at Jerufalem, 
Chrift put the queftion — Think ye that 
thefe men were fmners above other men ? 
and anfwered it hknfelf thus, cc I tell you, 
nay." In which determination two opinions 
item to be fignified: firft, that calamity is 
not punifhment ; and, fecondly, that all 
juft punifhment implies^;;/ or crime in the 
fubjeft of it. Indeed, I am periuaded that 
both are perfectly agreeable to the general 
apprehenfions of mankind : for no one, till 
his ideas of right and wrong were confound- 
ed, and till he had " put evil for good, and 
good for evU" ever thought that the righte- 
ous, or the innocent , were the pro$er/ui,. 
€>f punifhment* 

Now what is the conduct afcribed to 
God in the fcripture hiftory > and defended 

with 



26 Sober and Serious Reafons, ts>V. 

with fo much zeal by the learned prelate ? 
It is precifely this, that he inflicted the pu- 
nifhment of death on the innocent infants of 
the Canaanites. The extermination is re- 
prefented as a fignal and terrible punifh- 
rnent. But, whatever we may think of 
the parents, it could not have been deferved 
by the innocent infants. With refpect to 
thefe laft, therefore, it could not be other 
than an unjuft punifhment. 

Calamity, as fuch, is not punifhment, 
unlefs every calamity, great or fmail, is fo, 
whereby either men or brute animals are 
afflifted : Therefore, though the all-wife 
Author of nature might fee fit that the in- 
habitants of Lima, Catania, and Liihon, - 
fhould perifh by earthquakes, it does not 
follow that, he inflidied punifhment on 
them: Therefore thofe cafes were different 
from the cafe of the extermination of the 
Canaanites. 



if, 



Sober and Serious Reafons, tsfc. %j 

If, however, for the fake of argument, 
we ihould grant that there was no differ- 
ence, and that thofe natural calamities were 
real punifhment, and ihould apologife for 
the innocent having been included with the 
guilty in the fame punifhment, by alleging 
the impcjfibility of diftinguifning them 
without a miracle: — the fame apology 
could not be made for punifhing the Ca- 
naanitiih Infants ; becaufe it was very ea/j 
to diftinguifh than. 

The Bifhop, in the next page, remarks 
that <c He (God) made the Israelites the 
" executors of his vengeance 3 and in do- 
c; ing this he gave fuch an evident and 
11 terrible proof of his abomination of vice, 
Cl as could not fail to ftrike the furround- 
M ing nations with aftonifhment and terror, 
<c and to imprefs on the minds of the If- 
<f raelites what they were to expeft, if they 
cc followed the example of the nations 
" whom he commanded them to cutoff.** 

Now 



28 Sober and Serious Reafons, tsfc. 

Now I think, indeed, the minds of that peo- 
ple would be very ftrongly irnpreffrd by 
being made the executors of fuch dreadful 
vengeance : but I cannot help thinking, 
too, that the impreffion would be very 
pernicious. By learning that it belonged 
to the character of the Governor and the 
Judge of the world to inflift cruel and unjuft 
pwijhment, they would not be infpired with 
veneration for that fupreme Governor and 
Judge. And it is hard to perfuade one 
that the ftaining their hands in the blood 
of infants was likely to teach them huma- 
nity. In reality, it does not appear, from 
their hiftory, that they poffefled much of 
either: and it is particularly worthy of no- 
tice, that they were not even preferved 
from the very word crimes of the exter- 
minated nations. 

It is painful to refleft that men fhould 
ever have been led to imagine, whilft ha- 
bituated to the praftice of atrocious injuf- 

ticc, 



Sober and Serious Reafons, i*fc. 29 

tice, they might plead both the authority 
and example of that great Being whom 
they acknowledged as their maker, and, 
likewife, as their Governor and Judge. 
Deplorable indeed mull have been the cir- 
cumftances of thofe men : and it is difficult 
to conceive any circumftances more na- 
turally Acted to generate the inoft horrid 
fpecies of depravity. 

Such are my reafons for thinking the 
Bifhop of Landaff has not fucceeded in his 
attempt to refute an objection which in my 
mind is a very ferious one, and likely to 
remain fo. 

It feems impoffiblc to conceive how 
any order for extermination fhould pro- 
ceed from the juft and benevolent Deity: 
but that which refpefts the Amalekites, 
delivered by Samuel, in the name of God, 
to Saul, is more extraordinary than that 
concerning the other nations. It is as fol- 
lows : 



30 Sober and Serious Reafons, &c. 

lows: " Thus faith the Lord of hofts, I 
<c remember that which Amalekdid to If- 
" rael, how he laid wait for him in the 
" way when he came up from Egypt. 
" Now go and fmite Amalek, and utterly 
cc deftroy all that they have* and fpare 
" them not ; but flay both man and woman, 
"infant and fuckling, ox and fheep, camel 
" and afs*." Now it is obfervable, that 
this order does not make the wickedriefs of 
the Amalekites the reafon of their deftruc- 
tionj but the charge (though not literally 
fo expreffed) feems to be in efFedt this, 
That they took up arms againft their invaders. 
It may be obferved, like wife, that the gene- 
ration of men who had done this was pajfed 
away: and all of thofe, for whom this hor- 
rible mafiacre was decreed, were as innocent 
of the charge as the infants zndfucklings. 
The hiftory of the offence is recorded in 
the 17th chapter of Exodus: and at the 
end of that chapter we are told, cc The 

* 1 Sara. xv. 2, 3. 

11 Lord 



Sober and Serious Reafons, csV. 31 

* f Lord faid unto Mofes, Write this for a 
<c memorial in a book, and rehearfe it in 
" the ears of Jofhua ; for I will utterly put 

" out the remembrance of Amalekfrcm under 
cc heaven. And Mofes built an altar, 
" and called the name of it JEHOVAH- 
(c nifli : for he faid, Becaufe the Lord hath 
(C fvvorn, that the Lord will have war with 
cc Amaiekfrom generation to generation" 

We need not, furely, to be furpiifed that 
the jewifh people have been chara&erifed 
by the qualities of cruelty and malice. 
Neverchelefs, we find thefe qualities ap- 
pearing fometimes where one would not 
expedt it: — we find them in their devo- 
tions. 

It is univerfally admitted that, in the 
book of Pfdlms, there are many compofi- 
tions of unrivalled excellence in their kind. 
The divine providence and goodnefs are 
celebrated there in ftrains of poetry admi- 
rably 



3 2 Sober and Serious Reafons, ls\\ 

rably fublime, and powerfully affefHng, 
which feem expreflive of feelings truly de- 
vout, and adapted to call forth fimilar feel- 
ings. There are paffages, however, that 
occur in this book, at which I am afto- 
nifhed; but the feeling excited has nothing 
^leajurable belonging to it. The very wri- 
ter who, at one time, praifes God becaufe 
<c he is gracious and full of companion, 
t€ (low to anger and of great mercy; be- 
" caufe he is good to all, and his tender 
fC mercies are over all his works *;" — the 
very fame writer, in an addrefs to that 
fame God, whofe goodnefs he has thus 
celebrated, ufes tire following exprefiicns 
relative to his own perfonal enemies: " Let 
r€c the *r table become a fnare before them, 
u and that which fhould have been for 
u their welfare, let it become a trap 1 Let 
a their eyes be darkened that they fee ?wt> and 
u make their loins continually to fhake .'! 
* Pour out thine indignation upon them ; 

* See Pfialm cxlv. 

cf and 



Sober and Serious Reafons, &c. 33 

« and let thy wrathful anger take hold of 
cc them ! Let their habitation be defolate, 
* and let none dwell in their tents*!" On 
another occafion, we have thefe horrid 
imprecations of the fame writer upon his 
enemy: cc When he (hall be judged, let 
" him be condemned, and let his prayer 
" become fin I Let his days be few, and 
cc let another take his office ! Let bis cbiU 
i4 dren be fatherkjs and his wife a widow I 
" Let his children be continually vagabonds, 
(< and beg: let them feck their bread out of 
" their defolate places ! Let the extortioner 
" catch all that he hath; and let the ftran- 
" ger fpoil his labour ! Let there be none to 
cc extend mercy unto bim y neither let there be 
" any to favour his father lefs children I Let' 
" his pofterity be cut off, and, in the ge- 
" neration following, let his name be blot- 
" ted out ! Let the iniquity of his father be 
" remembered with the Lord ; and let not the 

* See Pi aim Ixix, 

D "fin 



34 Sober and Serious Reafons, &c. 

"fin of his mother be blotted out ! Let them 
ff be before the Lord continually, that he 
" may cut off the memory of them from 
ct the earth ! becaufe that he remembered 
" not to fhew mercy ; but perfecuted the 
cc poor and needy man [the imprecator 
a himfelf], that he might even flay the 
?c broken in heart. As he loved curfing, 
" fo let it come unto him ! As he delight- 
<c ed not in bleffing, fo let it be far from 
" him ! As he clothed himfelf with curf- 
cc ing as with a garment, fo let it come 
<c into his bowels like water, and like oil 
" into his bones ! Let it be unto him as 
* c the garment which covereth him, and 
cc for a girdle wherewith he is girded con- 
** tinually ! Let this be the reward of my 

u adverfaries from the Lord*!" .We 

have got, I prefume, a fufficient fpecimen 
of one kind of devotional fpirit. But as 
the writer was a writer of celebrity with 
his countrymen, he muft have found among 

* See Pfalm cix, 

them 



Sober and Serious Reafons, &c. 35 

them a congenial {pint. 1 hope and believe 
it was never found any where elfe. 

There was one more objection, men- 
tioned above, reSpe6ting the difficulty at- 
tending the very notion of Miracles and 
Revelation, 

When I was very young, and as yet to- 
tally ignorant of what philofophers have dis- 
covered concerning the immenfe fyftem 
of the univerfe, and the laws of the ma- 
terial world, — this difficulty did not at all 
affect me. But at prefent it Seems to me, 
as it has long Seemed, to be a thing, if not 
abfolutely incredible, very hard to believe, 
that the venerable Author of univerfal na- 
ture, after having eftablifhed the general 
order, and the laws by which all natural 
events are brought to paSs, fhould find it 
neceiTary to break in upon that order and 
thoSe laws Sor the accomplifhment oShis 
defigns. Moreover, Since I became a ne- 
D 2 ceiTarian, 



^6 Sober and Serious Reafons, &c. 

ceffarian, the difficulty has not been dimi- 
nished by my convidtion that the mind is 
fubjeft to laws as certain as the laws of gra- 
vitation, and that events take place as re- 
gularly in the intellectual and moral, as in 
the material world. 

Indeed I am not quite fo averfe to admit 
fome grand interference for a very extraor- 
dinary purpofe, as to receive the account 
of the many particular miracles recorded 
in the fcripture hiftory. 

The idea of God, in mod men's minds, 
is a very different thing from that con- 
ceived by a philofopher habituated to con- 
template the univerfe. What can fuch a 
contemplative man think, when he reads of 
perfonal vifits from the infinite and eternal 
Deity to the man i^braham, and the col- 
loquial difcourfe which paired on thofe 
occafions ? Let any reflecting perfon read 
what is related, in the 2cth chapter of 

Genefis, 



Sober and Serious Reafons^ &c. 37 

Genefis, concerning Abraham, Sarah, and 
Abimelcch the king of Gerar; and the 
account of what God is reprefented as 
/peaking, in a vificn, to Abimelech; like- 
wife the account of the miraculous punifh- 
ment inflidted on the female part of Abi- 
melech's family 5 and then let him declare 
foberly how he is impreffed by the narra- 
tive. I am no fcoffer : but I do not won- 
der at Mr. Voltaire's fcoffing. Indepen- 
dently, however, of the objt&ion to this 
ftory and the morality of it, can it appear 
at all probable that fuch perfonai confe- 
rences (bould have taken place between the 
'Author of the univerfe and Abraham or Mqfes 
as thofe related? I inquire not how pro- 
bable fuch things may be in the eftima- 
tion of ordinary men, but in that of intel- 
ligent and reflecting perfons. 

i 

There is what, I think, will illuftrate 

the matter, in a volume of letters, ad- 

dreffed to various perfons, by Dr. Prieft- 

D 3 ley. 



38 Sober and Serious Reafons, &c, 

ley*. Among the reft, there are twelve 
very excellent ones to the late Dr. Price; 
in one of which, on the antecedent proba- 
bility of the Arian hypothefis, we meet 
with thefe following obfervations : 

. " That mere divines fhouk! talk fo light- 
cc ly as they fometimes do, concerning crea- 
" tion> and the poffibility of its falling with- 
cc in the province of an inferior being, I 
" I do not wonder ; becaufe they have no 
cc proper idea of what creation is or im- 
" plies. They have no conception of the 
<c magnitude of it, or of the wonderful ex- 
" tent of the laws by which the mundane 
" fyftem is governed. But you, Sir, are 
" not a mere divine. You rank high in 
fC the clafs of mathematicians and natural 
" philofophers, who are daily contemplate 
" ing, and making farther inquiries into, 
" the laws of nature -, who are filled with 

* The title is, Letters to Dr. Hornc, r to the Young 
Men of Oxford and Cambridge, to Dr Price, and 
to Mr. Packhurft. Published by Johnfon, 1767. 

" aftonifhment 



Sober and Serious Rea/ons, &c. 39 

t€ aftonifhment at what they do fee of them, 
" and who are at the fame time well fatif- 
" fied that all they fee bears no fenfible 
" proportion to that which is unknown, 

(f Now that a being poffeffing the pro- 

u found wifciom, and aftonifhing power, 

" that mull: have been necefiary to the 

" conftru6tion of fuch a fyftem as this 

iC {'even allowing the matter out of which it 

Cf was made to have been prepared for 

<c him), fhould become a child in the 

" womb of a woman, be born, be brought 

iC up from infancy to manhood, be fubjeft 

u to all the pains and infirmities of men, 

iC be delivered into the hands of his ene- 

" mies, be crucified, and die, appears to 

cc me to be in reality no lefs incredible 

(C than it does to you that the creator of 

" all worlds fhould be thus degraded." 



-& i 



I do not fay, you will obferve, that the 

instances which the fcripture hiftory affords 

D 4 of 



40 Sober and Serious Reafoyis, &c. 

of colloquial difcourfe between the Author 
of nature and Abraham^ and between the 
fame infinite and ajlonijhing Being and Mcfes y 
are parallel inftances of degradation; they, 
neverthelefs, appear fo degrading as to 
render the hiftory antecedently improbable : 
and, indeed, I think that any accounts of 
miraculous inrerpofition muft appear fo, 
even to perfons whofe minds are ftrongly 
impreffed with religion, provided it be a 
rational and not a fuperftitious religion ; 
and provided the perfons in queftion be 
acquainted with the great laws of nature, 
and attentive to the events conftantly tak- 
ing place according to the eftablifhed or- 
der. I have certainly no pretenfions to- 
the character of a profound philofopherj 
but, beholding, every day, and fenoufly 
contemplating, as I do, the regular way 
in which the Author of nature brings his 
defigns to pafs, to me it appears an unna- 
tural thing to fuppofe him deviating from 
his eternal courfe. 

Yet 



Sober and Serious Reafons, &c. 41 

Yet I mean to fay no more than that 
iuch miraculous interpofition is antece- 
dently improbable ; I do not affirm it to be 
abfolutely incredible. 

After all, I am ready to acknowledge 
that I feel the force of the argument, for 
the truth of the chriftian revelation, deriv- 
ed from the tefiimony of the apoftles taken 
together with their fubfequent conduft, 
and the perfecutiops which they thereby 
knowingly incurred. If the chriftian mi- 
racles were not true (and if the apoftles 
were, as they are fuppofed to have been, 
competent to judge of that matter), their 
conduft is altogether unaccountable; and 
the rapid fuccefs of chriftianity is equally 
fo. 

This argument has been repeatedly urg- 
ed by Dr. Prieftley, and recently by the 
bifliop of Landaff*i more efpecially it has 

*SeehisTwoSermons,anda Charge to his Clergy, 
Published by Evans. 

been 



4$ Soher and Serious Reafons, &c. 

been ftated and enforced with great ability 
by Mr. Paley ; whofe work, I imagine, is 
confidered as the completed defence of 
chriftianity in the Engliih language. This 
argument likewife feems, in the opinion of 
thofe writers, to be the ftrong ground on 
which chriftianity ftands. But I would in- 
quire, Can it fupport the truth of the 
chriftian revelation, without fanfitioning 
the morality of the Old.and New Tefta- 
ments ? Or may we receive the revela- 
tion of a future ft -ate on the authority of this 
argument, and be at liberty to rejecft the 
morality taught in thofe books, the whole 
or any part of it, if it fhould appear to us 
to be falfe and pernicious morality ? Thefe 
queftions, I apprehend, will be negatived by 
every chriftian. 

But though I fhould concede that, on 
the fuppofition of chriftianity being/^/fc, 
both the condudt of the apoftles and the 
rapid fuccefs of chriftianity are unaccount- 
able : 



Sober and Serious Reafons, Istc. 43 

aide: What then ? In the pre fen t cafe, as 
in many others, I rnuft acquiefce in my 
ignorance and inability. At the fame time 
I may be allowed to afTert, That no argu- 
ment can prove that to be true which in 
itfelf is impofiible. Now I am convinced 
it is impofiible for the benevolent Deity to 
create beings in order to make them mi- 
ferable : but the chriftian fcriptures affirm 
(as we have ken) that everlafting mifery 
is the dejiinaticn cf the great mafs of human 
beings ; which is affirming, in other words, 
that the benevolent Deity hath adtually 
done this horrible thing*. 

It 

* In Dr. Prieftley's Inffitutes of Natural and Re- 
1 Religion, 2 vols. Svo, pages 2/1,2/2, of 
vol. i. we have thefe remarkable conceflions : " It 
a is readily acknowledged that many proportions 
u are, in their own nature, abfard -, and, therefore, 
" that no evidence whatever can be of any avail to 
" the proof of them. If, for instance, a perfon 
" fhould do what I mould not be able to difiinguiua 
" from a real miracle, pretending to prove by it 

(i that 



44 Sober and Serious Reafons, &c. 

It is generally underftood, I believe,that 
the great objeft of the chridian revelation 
was to eftablifh the dodrine of a future 
ftate. Mr, Paley fays, " If I were to de- 

(( that the fun did not rife yeflerday, to contradict 
•■' fach a notorious hiftorical fo& as, there is fuch a 
" place as Rome, or to refute fo plain a proportion 
si as this, that 2 and 2 make 4, he will not perfuade 
" me to admit any thing fo contrary to experience, 
" to common {^nfe, or to unqueflionable human 
" teftimony. Alfo, the great outlines of natural 
" religion, refpecting the providence and goodnefs 
(( of God, and the great rules of human duty, 
" though they be not flrictly demontirable, yet 
" their very high degree of probability, and their 
" great importance to mankind, give them fuch a 
" fanc-tion, that e we ought not to liflen to any evidence 
'* that would tend to undermine them. We may take 
(i it for granted that God cannot contradict himfelf. 
" Whatever, therefore, he clearly appears to be in 
" his works, we may a fibre ourfelves that he will 
" alfo appear to be in any revelation that he mall 
" pleafe to make of himfelf. He cannot appear 
" good and merciful in one method of making him- 
" felf known ; and cruel and unjuft in another/' 

c< fcribe, 



Sober and Serious Reafom, &c. 4 c 

" fcribe, in a very few words, the fcope 
" of chriftianity as a revelation, I fhould 
" fay that it was, to influence the conduft 
" of human life, by eftablifhing the proof 
cc of a future ftate of rewards and punifh- 
" nifnments — to bring life and immorta- 
" lity to light*." Chriftians, therefore, 
who, as fueh, are believers in a future 
ftate, fhould take their ideas of that ftate 
from THE REPRESENTATIONS of 
it given in the NEW TESTAMENT. 
Now thofe reprefentations, I think, cannot 
be true : and, as far as the great body of 
mankind is concerned, they have no rea- 
fon to wifh them to be fo. If, indeed, it 
were the doftrine of Chrift — That the pre- 
fent is a ftate of difcipline, to prepare men 
for happinefs in a future ftate, by making 
them virtuous here ; or if, as we unfor- 
tunately fee the many do not become vir- 
tuous here, Chrift had taught us that they 

* See Paley's View of the Evidences of Chrif- 
tianity, 8vo edition, 1796, pp. 24, 25, 

mu ft 



46 Sober and Serious Reafons, &c. 

muft undergo a future difcipline; but that, 
ultimately, they will attain to virtue and 
happinefs: — a future ftate, fo reprefented, 
would be a defirable thing. But, alas ! pu- 
mfbmtity in fcripture, is always defcribed, 
not as a benevolent discipline'* , to the gene- 
rality of mankind, but as the execution of 
jiift vengeance : agreeably to what occurs in 
the following pafiage, taken from Paul's 
2d Epiftle to the ThefTalonians, chap. i. 
cf It is a righteous thing with God to re- 
cc compenfe tribulation to them that trou- 
<c ble you, and to you, who are troubled, 
4Z reft with us, when the Lord Jefus lhall 
u be revealed from heaven, with his migh- 

* I am fufficiently aware that the writer to the 
Hebrews (chap, xii.) reprefents the evils of life as 
anfwering the end of a falutary difcipline to flncere 
and pious chriftians,but not to other men. " Whom 
" the Lord loyejh he chafteneth" fays that writer ; 
who is fappofed to have been that fame Paul who 
tells the Corinthians (as above mentioned), " We 
e< are chqftened of the Lord that we fliould not be 
* ; condemned 'with the world." 



Sober and Serious Rea/ons, &c. 47 
* c ty angels, in flaming fire, taking ven- 
cc geance on them that know not God, and 
" that obey not the gofpel of our Lord 
<c Jefus Chrift : who fhall be puniihed 
" with everlajiing deftrnftion from the pre- 
€C fence of the Lord and from the glory of 
c< his power." 

Neverthelefs, it is my fincere opinion, 
that a purer, a more dignified, or a more 
amiable religion was never exhibited to 
the fons of men, than we find in what is 
called the Lord's prayer, in the parable 
of the prodigal, and other parts of Chrift's 
difcourfes : for inftance, his affefting ad- 
drefs to his hearers on the fubjeft of anx- 
iety, which I will tranfcribe. " I fay unto 
* c you, take no thought for your life, what 
" ye (hall eat, or what ye fhall drink; nor 
<c yet for your body, what ye fhall put on, 
cc Is not the life more than meat, and the 
<c body than raiment ? Behold the fowls 
< f of the air : for they fow not, neither do 
1 « they 



48 Sober and Serious Reafons, &c. 

€C they reap, nor gather into barns ; yet 
* c your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are 
ff not ye much better than they? Which 
" of you, by taking thought [by his anx- 
" iety], can add one cubit unto his ftature ? 
€< And why take ye thought for raiment ? 
" Confider the lilies of the field, how they 
" grow : they toil not, neither do they 
<c fpin : and yet, I fay unto you, that even 
rc Solomon, in all his glory, was not ar- 
c< rayed like one of thefe. Wherefore, if 
cc God fo clothe the grafs of the field, 
c< which to-day is, and to-morrow is caft 
cc into the oven, fliall he not much more 
" clothe you, O ye of little faith? There- 
fc fore, take no [anxious] thought, fay- 
cc ing, What fliall we eat? or what fliall 
cc we drink ? or, wherewithal fhall we be 
<c clothed ? for your heavenly Father know- 
ct eth that ye have need of all thefe things. 
cc But feek ye firfl the kingdom of God, 
cc and his righteoufnefs, and all thefe things 
" fhall be added unto you." 

As 



Sober and Serious Reafons y tftc. 49 

As another inftance, I will tranfcribe 

his exhortation to pray. " Afk, and 

" it fnall be given you : feek, and ye fhall 
<c find : knock, and it fhall be opened unto 
" you : For every one that afketh, re- 
<c ceiveth ; and he, that feeketh, findeth ; 
u and, to him that knocketh, it (hall be 
" opened. 

" Or what man is there of you, of 
" whom if his fon afk bread, will he give 
<c him a ftone ? or, if he afk a filh, will he 
" give him a ferpent ? 

u If ye then, being evil, know how to 
" g #lve good gifts unto your children, how 
" much more fhall your heavenly Father 
u give good things to them that afk 
« him*:" 

The benevolent morality, likewife, in- 

* See Matthew, chap. vi. and vii. 

E culcated 



jo Sober and Serious Reafons, &e. 
culcated by Chrift, is truly admirable. A 
-better fpeeimen cannot be given than we 
have in that beautiful and interefting apo- 
logue of the man travelling to Jericho, 
who fell into the hands of robbers*: which 
I forbear to tranfcribe. I cannot, how- 
ever, avoid remarking the divine fimpli- 
city of the dodlrine which refolves the 
whole of religion and morality into, thofc 
grand principles, the love of God> and the 
love of man. 

From what has been adduced, it ap- 
pears that both xhtfentitnents and the doc- 
trines of fcripture are difcordant in the ex- 
treme. A wife man will therefore difcri- 
minate. He will endeavour to " prove 
u all things, and hold faft that which is 
" good." But, unfortunately, what is moil 
obnoxious appears to me infeparably connett- 
■ at/ with the doftrine which is acknowledge 



See Luke, chap. x. 



Sober and Serious Rcafcns, isV. 3 1 

cd to be the grand article -oi the chriftkn 

revelation ; and therefore appears to have 
all the fupport which the miraculous autho- 
rity can afford it. However, though I own 
myfelf unable to refute the argument 
brought to prove that authority to be real* 
I am convinced that the do£trine,which re- 
prefents the ^benevolent Deity as having 
created beings in order to make them mifer- 
■able y can never have the Jeal of his autho- 
rity. 

When I ferioufly confider this principal 
objection, likewife that iimilar one refpeft- 
ing the extermination of the Canaanites ; and, 
laftly, that grounded on the antecedent im- 
probability of all revelation ; I perceive 
myfelf, as I faid, conftrained to become a 
Sceptic. Becaufe I would not do a rafh 
thing, I do not pronounce the revelations 
(as they are ftyled) of the Old and New 
Teftaments to be falfe : but I am very far 
indeed from believing them to be true. 

E 2 la 



52 Sober and Serious Reafons> &c. 

In this ftate of mind, and at my time of 
life, it is probable that my habits and my 
condudt will remain nearly fuch as they 
have been. With refpedt to one article, 
neverthelefs, I fhall ceale to do as I have 
done. I (hall no longer (at leaft till I am 
better informed) by a folemn and public 
aft declare myfelf to be a chriftian : becaufe 
I would not do it, either by word or deed, 
in private converfation. Yet I am not 
aware of any thing which fhould hinder 
me from rejoicing in the fatherly goodnefs 
of God; I know of nothing which fhould 
hinder me from contemplating, with de- 
light, his benevolent providence, without 
which " not a fparrow fails to the grounds" 
or even from lifting up my heart to him, 
with humble confidence, as to the original 
and genuine fource of all that is excellent 
and good. Perhaps, too, my chriftian 
friends will permit me,when the melancholy 
feezes of human calamity force my atten- 
tion, to confole my fdfwith the revivinghope 

' That 






Sober and Serious Reafons, &c* 53 
" That this dark tiate, 



H In wayward paffions loft and vain purfuits^ 
u This infancy of being, cannot prove. 
" The final iffuc of the works of God." 

Thomson, 

I have now, my dear Sir, finiihed what 
I had to fay to you: and, leaving you to 
judge of it, 

I remain 

Yours affe&ionately, 

J.H. 



Ej 



,4N A P LO G Y 

FOR THE DISBELIEF 
OF 

REVEALED RELIGION 

BEING 

A SEQUEL 

T O 

c BEK AND SERIOUS REASONS 

FOR 

SCEPTICISM, Sec 



E du 



ADVERTISEMENT, 

Printed with ihefirjl Edition. 



The writer of the enfulng pages 
has therein afTerted (intentionally at 
leaft) the caufe of religious truth; 
and,Jbfar, preiumes, that he has con- 
curred with liberal chriflians, who, 
he trufts, will judge him with candour, 
or, at leaft, with equity. But he 
will own that, having differed on a 
fubjeA of great importance from a 
number of his friends, it has, like- 
wife, been his object to vindicate 
more fully this part of his conduct, 
and to preferve as much of their 
efteem as may be. It is meant, in- 
deed, that what he has written fhall 
go principally among thofe friends. 

AST 



AST 

APOLOGY, &c; 



When- the advocates of revealed religion 
make demands upon us for our faith, it 
feems very natural, in this age of free in- 
quiry and difcuffibn, for a thoughtful man 
to reflect on the matter or matters which 
we are required to believe. " I find my- 
" felf (fuch a man may fay) fituated, as I 
" conceive, in the midft of the UNI- 
u VERSE of God. I contemplate the 
u phenomena around me, and perceive no- 
" thing at reft -, but the grand fuccefiion 
" of events which fall under my notice* 
* takes place uniformly and regularly, ac- 
" cording to eftablilhed laws, from the re* 
€i volution of the heavenly bodies, to the 
iC change of feafons upon this earthly globe, 

« and 



60 An Apology for the 

<c and to the circulation of the blood in an 
" animal fyftem. From what I experi- 
cc ence within me> I am convinced that 
" mind is governed by laws as incontroul- 
cc able as the laws of matter; becaufe I am 
" invariably determined to aftion by the 
" ftrongeft motive, and I cannot doubt 
" that other men are determined in the 
" fame manner. All things, therefore, 
" which come to pafs were, I conclude, 
" ordained by, and fpring from, the opera- 
" tion of that original Caufe, the wife 
cc and benevolent Author of the univerfe ; 
" who, being perfedtly acquainted with 
ff individual and univerfal nature, knew 
u from everlafting how to difpofe properly 
" of every being and every thing, and to 
cc what influences it was proper to fubjedt 
cc them, in order to produce the propofed 
" refult, viz. the greatefijum of gocd. As 
" a true Theift, it is thus I conceive of 
<c the Deity exerting his power agreeably 
• c to eftabliflied and invariable laws : for 

tf with 






Dijbelief of Revealed Religion. 6 1 

<c with him is no variablenefs or fhadow of 
"turning" 

It feems impoffible to confider this great 
Being as accomplifhing his purpofe by this 
uniform and invariable mode of operation, 
without apprehending it to be the mod 
dignified mode, and perfectly fuitable to 
his character: and, on the other hand, it 
feems likewife impoffible to contemplate 
him as deviating from this mode fo fimple 
and fublime, and as dijlurbing his own ejia- 
blijhed order by working miracles, without 
efteeming fuch a deviation to be a thing 
derogatory from him, becaufe implying a 
defeSi of wifdom or of power. But how- 
ever unworthy of him fuch a deviation may 
appear, it is what all the advocates of re- 
velation contend for, and require us to 
believe. Indeed, there is a gr£at differ- 
ence between the opinions of fome and 
others of them, refpedting the extent to 
ch the miraculous power has been ex- 
erted j 



-62 An Apology for the 

cited ; fome thinking all the miraculous 
ftories in the Old Teftament to be true, 
*and deeming all the fcriptural books, with* 
out exception, to have the divine fan&ion 
and authority j while others think a number 
of thofe ftories to be fabulous, and entirely 
difbelieve the infpiration of the greateft 
part of fcripture. 

It has been the general opinion among 
chriftians that, in the fcriptures, 1 the Deity 
has revealed to mankind tbe knowledge of 
himfelf and of his providential government, 
-and likewife the knowledge of true and ge- 
- nuine morality. And it is remarkable that 
thofe chriftians who have believed leaft 
refpe&ing infpiration, have joined with 
thofe who have believed moji in extolling 
fcriptural religion and morality as far the 
pureft and the beft, and in defending the 
facred books when cenfured for contain- 
ing both do&rines and examples of irreli- 
gion and immorality, 
6 



\DiJbelief of Revealed Religion . 6 3 

Whether any unprejudiced perfon could 
remain unconvinced of the juftice of fuch 
a charge after reading thofe books, I will 
not determine : but furely prejudice itfelf 
mult admit it to be an extraordinary cir~ 
curnftance that the noble Lord prefiding in 
the Court of KingVBench fhould, on a 
recent occafion*, have doubted whether 
he ought to keep his feat in that court 
while Mr. Stewart Kyd read paflages from 
the Holy Bible. His lordfhip, indeed, ob- 
jected to the reading parts of the Bible. 
But though it is true that detached parts of 
a connected diflertation may convey a 
meaning very different from what the wri- 
ter intended, this obfervation (as every 
one muft fee) does not affeft entire and 
unmutilated narratives, fuch as thofe in 
queftion, references to which I fhall put 

in the note fubjoined f. 

But, 

* The trial of Williams for publifhing the Age 
©f Reafon, 24th of jane, 1/97- 

*f The cenfurable pillages, as Mr, Kyd under- 

flood 



64 An Apology for the 

But, what muft be a moft important 
confideration to a religious man, in thofe 

books 

flood them to be, confift of obfcene ftories, with 
which he has joined Solomon's famous Song as an 
inftance of voluptuous debauchery : they confift, 
likewife, of inftances of cruel and torturous execu- 
tions and unrelenting vindictivenefs. Relations 
of tlie firft fort (though certainly not all equally 
liable to objection) he merely cited, as 

The ftory of Sarah's giving Hagar to Abraham, 

Gen. ch. xvi. 
The tranfa&ion of Lot's two daughters with 

their father, Geu. ch. xix. 
Tbe difputes of Rachel and Leah about the pof- 
feffion of Jacob's perfon, and their giving each 
her handmaid to Jacob, Gen. ch. xxx. 
Thehiftory of the rape of Dinah, Gen. ch. xxxiv. 
The ftory of Judah and Tamar, Gen. ch. xxxviii. 
The folicitation of Jofeph by Potiphar's wife, 

Gen. ch. xxxix. 
The ftory of Zimri, and Colbi the Midianitifti 
woman, Numb. ch. xxv. 

— of Samfon and Delilah, Judges, ch . xvi. 

m of the Levites' concubine abufed by 

the Gibeathites, Judges, ch. xlx. 
— ■ of Abigail, the wife of Nabal, becom- 



ing the wife of David, \ Sam. ch. xxv, 

The 



Difbelief of Revealed Religion . 65 

books we find a reprefentation not merely 
unworthy and degrading, but an impious 

reprefent- 

The ftory of Amman, one of the fons of David, 
debauching Tamar* the filler of Abfalom* 
another of David's fons, 2 Sam. ch. xiii. 

of the fame Abfalom debauching his 

father's concubines in the face of all Ifrael, on 
the houfe-top, 2 Sam. ch. xvi. 

. of David and Bathfheba, the wife of 



Uriah the Hittite, 2 Sam. ch. xi. 
Mr. Kyd faid, he forbore to read thefeflpries at 
length, becaufe b« felt it his duty to fpare the mo- 
deity of an Engliih audience : for the fame rea- 
fon he did not read, but refer to the Song of So- 
lomon : but with refpect to the inftances of cruel 
and torturous execution, and unrelenting vindic- 
tivenefs, he did not feel himfelf retrained, and the 
narratives of thefe he propofed to read, when Lord 
Kenyon interfered : and the jury not wifhing to 
hear them, Mr. K. cited the palTages as they follow : 
The (lory of the treacherous and cruel revenge 
of the two fons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, on 
the Shechemites, Gen. ch. xxxiv. 
The hiftorj of the (laughter of the Midianites, 

Numb. ch. xxxi. 
The (laughter of the Canaanites by the com- 
F rnand 



66 An Apology for the 

reprefentation of the eternal Deity. The 
more liberal chriftians, when fpeaking of 

mand of God ; particularly the conduct of 
jofhua to the men of Ai, Jofb, ch. viii. and 
the {laughter of the five kings, Jofh. ch. x. 

The ftory of Sifera and Jael, and the Song of 
Deborah and Barak in exultation at the event, 
Judges, ch. iv. and v. 

The murder of the people of Jabefh Gilead, for 
not having gone up with the reft of the tribes 
againft Benjamin, in the cafe of the Levite's 
concubine, Judges, ch. xxi. 

The account of Samuel hewing Agag in pieces 
before the Lord in Gilgal, 1 Sam. ch. xv. 

The unneceflary and wanton cruelty of David 
to the inhabitants of Rabba, the chief city 
of Amnion, taken after its fiege by Joab, 
2 Sam, ch. xii. 

The murder of Saul's feven innocent fons, on 
pretence of their father's daughter of the Gi- 
beonites, being the caufe of feven years' fa- 
mine, 2 Sam. ch. xxi. 

David's dying charge to Solomon, refpe&ing 
Joab and Shimei, 1 Kings, ch. ii. 

The (laughter of feventy of Ahab's fons, 
% Kings, ch. x. 

God 5 



Dijhelief of Revealed Religion . 6 7 

God, as creator, have told us, " That the 
" world originated from his infinite good- 
"nefs; that he is the benevolent parent of 
" all mankind, and that his object in creat- 
" ing them, was to make them virtuous 
" and happy/' And, without doubt, all 
this is the natural and genuine confequence 
to be inferred from the chara&er of a be- 
ing infinitely wife and good, and powerful 
From the books of fcripture, however, we 
learn no fuch thing. When we read in 
thofe- books what is mentioned, refpedting 
the creation, we meet with fuch paffages 
as the following : Ci The heavens declare 
" the glory of God, and the firmament 
" fheweth his handy- work." "By the word 
" of the Lord w r ere the heavens made, 
" and all the hoft of them by the breath 
" of his mouth." It is in this, or a fimilar 
drain, that creation is fpoken of: and we 
n that the world originated from the 
w, indeed, of God; but it is never, I 
think, afcribed to his benevolence. But if 
F 2 any 



68 An Apology for the 

any pafftges of thofe books were meant 
to teach us, that the object of the Deity, 
in giving being to his intelligent creatures, 
was the virtuous happinefs of thofe crea- 
tures ; this could never be reconciled with 
the account given by Chrift and his apof- 
tles concerning the unhappy dejlination of 
the majority of the human race. A phi- 
lofophical chriftian muft maintain that, 
under the government of a perfedt Deity, 
no punifhments can take place except fuch 
as are difciplinary : but will he be able to 
fhew us that fcripture puniOiments are 
ever fo characterized, unlefs when certain 
favourites are in queftion ; as when Paul 
declares, cc We are chajlened of the Lord 
cc that we fhould not be condemned with the 
<f world?" The fpirit of punijbment, in- 
deed, appears to be a fpirit of vengeance 
from the beginning of the Old Teftament 
to the end of the New. In the more an- 
cient books, we read of fuch exprefllons as 
thefc coming from the mouth of God: CC I 

" will 



Dijbclief of Revealed Religion , 69 

" will render vengeance to mine enemies— 

" I will make mine arrows drunk with 

" blood *:" " I will tread them in mine 

"anger, and trample them in my furyf:" 

c< I poured out mine indignation upon 

" them, I have confumed them with the 

" fire of my wrath t." And in the later 

books we find fuch paffages concerning 

Goa's treatment of his human offspring, as 

the following: M The Lord Jefus fhall be 

cc revealed from heaven, with his mighty 

" angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance 

" on them that know nor G'od, and that 

" obey not the gofpel of cur Lord Jefus 

11 Chrift : w'ho fhall be puniQied with ever- 

" Lifting deflruftion from the prefence of 

M the Lord, and from the glory of his 

" power §:" cc If any man worfhip the 

" beaft and his image, and receive his mark 

" in his forehead or in his hand, the fame 

c< fhall drink of the wine of the wrath of 

* Deuteron. ch. xxxii. f Ifaiah, ch. IxiiL 

J Ezek. ch. xxii. § 2 TheiT. ch. i. 

F 3 " God 



70 An Apology for the 

€t God which is poured out, without mix- 
" ture, into the cup of his indignation ; and 
ff he (hall be tormented with fire and brim- 
<c {tone in the prefence of the holy angels, 
"*and in the prefence of the Lamb : and 
" the fmoke of their torment afcendeth up 
" fGreverandever*." Now, when we read 
fuch paffages as the above, delivered to us 
by jewifh and chriftian writers, we have 
ideas irrefiftibly forced upon our minds; 
ideas which ill accord with the charadter of 
a benevolent creator conducing his intel- 
ligent creatures to virtue by means of a 
Jalutary difciptine, but agreeing much too 
well with that of an evil daemon producing, 

* It has been objected that there is not any 
thing in the book of Revelation which will prove 
the doctrine of eternal torments for human beings 
to be a fcriptural doctrine, though the book is of 
acknowledged authority among chrifHans; be- 
ta uie the bead and falfe prophet are myfterious 
perfonages. But however myiterious they be, the 
ivorfliippers of the beafl: are defcribed as men : the 
* objection, therefore, is not to the purpofe. 

and 



Dlfljelief of Rev sale d Religion . 7 1 

and gratifying himfelf with, the fpe&acle 
of human mifery *. 

There can be no doubt that the learned 
and very refpedtable Dr. Geddes is a be- 
liever both in the jewifh and the chriftian 
revelation, although he has not told us how 
much of the fcripture he conceives to have 
the unqueftionable fanftion of the Deity. 
In the general preface to his translation of 
the Bible, which will not appear till his 
great work is finifbed, he will explain him- 
felf more fully. In the mean time, having 
occafion to fpeak of the extirpation of the 
Canaanites, in the preface to his fecond 
volume, he has, like a good and upright 
man, expreffed himfelf thus in a note: 
a After all that has been written, either by 
" jews or chriftians, in defence of this fan- 

* The above citation from the Apocalypfe in- 
forms us, that the holy angels and the Lamb are 
admitted to the enviable privilege of participat- 
ing in this horrid fpecies of gratification. 

F 4 " guinary 



72 An Apology for the 

€i gulnary meafure, I confcfs my reafon 
" and my religion continually revolt at it: 
" and 1 cannot bring myfelf to believe that 
" fuch an order proceeded from the mouth 
u of God ; perhaps not even from the 
" mouth of Mofes. I am rather willing 
"to fufped that it is the fabrication of 
€€ fome pofterior jew, to juftify the cruel- 
a ties of his nation. And indeed it is the 
" fhorteft way to juftify any meafure, and 
" to obviate all troublefome objections. 
u Such a deed could not be unjufi, fi nee 
<c God authorized and commanded it: who 
c< will prefume to fay that what God com- 
< f mands is unjuft? True; but then we 
<c muft firft be well allured that he has 
u commanded; and the very appearance 
<f of injutliee in the aft, is to me a ftronser 
" proof that he did not command it, than 
iC the authority of ail the jewifh historians 
" put together. I was grieved to read in 
u a late elegant Apology for the Bible folame 
<f a juftiiication of that paffage: and am 

" tempted 



JDiJbelief of Revealed Religion. 73 

tz tempted fometimes to think that the 
" right reverend author muft have felt the 
" weaknefs of his argument, and feen the 
" difparity of his fimile." Such, and fo 
liberal is the manner in which Dr. Gecldes 
has exprelTed himfelf: and I own it is gra- 
tifying to me, to find that what I have ad- 
vanced, in oppofition to the bifhop's ar- 
gument, has fo far the concurrence of fuch 
a man *. He has likewife, much to his 
honour, when animadverting on the pre- 
tended divine order for extirpating the 
Amalekites, thrown out, with virtuous in- 
dignation, the following apoftrophe: " But, 
f( O God of Juftice, couldlt thou, then, 
cc have given the fanguinary injunction to 
cc deltroy, without mercy and without ex- 
Cf ception, a whole unoffending nation, 
cc men, women, and children, for a crime, 
" real or fuppofed, committed by their an- 
" ceftors four hundred years before ? Cre- 
" dat Judaeus Apellal" 

* See above, pp. 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 

In 



74 -An Apology for the 

In the further profecmion of my defign, 
I fhall now bring forward, and comment 
more or iefs upon certain narratives from 
the Old Teftament; and I fhall do the 
fame refpcding a very important and dif- 
tinguifhed doftrine of the New. 

I fhall next animadvert on the morality 

of the New Teftament. 

I fhall then fhew why I chink that, even 
though a part of the obje&ionable matter 
might be reje&ed, t«he whole could not, 
confidently with the belief of the chriftian 
revelation* 

And, laftly, I fhall give my reafons for 
eftimating the argument from teftimony as 
unfound and inefficient. 



1 



SECTION 



Dijbelitf of Revealed Religion. 75 

SECTION L 

Of Objectionable Stories and Doffrine. 

Although it fhould feem that any 
exhibition of miracles, to the difturbance 
and interruption of the courfe of nature, 
muft be a proceeding unworthy of the im- 
mutable Author of nature, it may be ob- 
ferved that, fome of thofe miraculous 
ftories related in the jewifh hiftory, ttrike 
one as peculiarly degrading to his charac- 
ter. Very ftrange it is to read of colloquial 
difcourfes paffing between that great and 
aftonifhing Being and his human crea- 
tures. Neverthelefs we read of many fuch 
colloquies with Abraham and others. But 
what muft we think when we are told, 
Gen. ch. xx. that this fame Abraham, 
while a fojourner at a place called Gc- 
rar, bafely reprefented his wife Sarah as 

being 



j 6 An Apology for the 

being his fijier and not bis wife, thus 
conniving at an adulterous commerce be- 
tween her and Abimckch the king of 
Gerar, which Abraham, it appears, ex- 
peEled to take place, though, as the ftory 
fays, it did not: becaufe God came to 
Abimelech in a dream by night, and in- 
formed him that he had taken the wife 
of a man who was a prophet, requiring 
Abimelech; therefore, to refxore the man 
his wife, otherwife (as we learn from 
this curious ftory) God fays, " Thou fhait 
cc furely die; thou and all that is thine" 
We are further acquainted that God ap- 
pointed Abraham the prophet to pray for 
the king that he might live. f< So Abra- 
c< ham prayed unto God : and God healed 
u Abimelech (yet it does not otherwife 
appear that he was fick) and his wife and 
" his maid fervants; and they bare chil- 
cc dren; for the Lord had faft clofed up all 
cc the wombs of the houfe of Abimelech 
cc becaufe of Sarah, Abraham's wife." — I 

fay, 



Dijbelltf of Revealed Religion. 7 7 

fay, what nruft we think of fuch a tale as 
this occupying a place in a facred book ? 
And notwkhftanding familiarity has a won- 
derful power of reconciling us to what is 
moil abhorrent to our natures, furely a 
perfon tolerably free from prejudice, can- 
not fail to fhudder, if he will ferioufly at- 
tend to what is related, Gen. ch. xxii. where 
we are told that God commanded Abra- 
ham to offer up his fori as afacrifice y and 
that, in obedience to God, Abraham, hav- 
ing provided wood for the fire, and a 
knife, was juft proceeding to embrne his 
hands in his for? s Meed, when he was pre- 
vented by an angeL That an ad in itfelf 
fo wicked, for which to be prepared and 
wrought up, it was requifite for a man to 
do fuch horrid and unnatural violence to 
himfelf, that fuch an a6l (hould be deemed 
acceptable to a juft and benevolent Deity, 
is a fad proof how miferably the human 
mind may be perverted. This inftance, 
however, of Abraham's obedience is re* 

prefemed 



7 8 An Apology for the 

preferred by the hiftorian as fo meritori- 
ous* as to have obtained the divine bleff- 
ing folemnly pronounced, and even fworn, 
by God himfelf; and a declaration that,. in 
Abraham's feed all the nations of the earth 
fhould be bleffed. And truly it has been 
very generally believed that, in this decla- ' 
ration, Chrift was foretold, and the gofpel 
preached to Abraham: for which belief 
it muft be owned, there is what is called 
apoftolical authority. And by the unthink- 

* It cannot be denied that, if Ifaac had been 
taken from his father by a natural death, Abraham 
would have had an equal opportunity of difplay- 
ing his faith and pious refignation, as in the cafe re- 
lated. His peculiar merit then, muft confift in his 
doing, or being ready to do, an ael: of horrid and 
unnatural wickednefs at the command of God. 
One may add a remark which .prefents itfelf on 
this occafion, viz. That the trial feems to have been 
intended not fo much for Abraham's improvement 
and benefit as for the information of the Otnnifcient 
Being, who is made to fay, by the mouth of the 
angel. " Novo, I know that^thoir fearefl God : fee- 
" ing thou haft not witheld thy fon, thine only 
*' fon ; from me." 



1 



Dijbelief of Revealed Religion . J <j 

ing marry, that authority will be efteemed 
quite fufficient to fanElify the above fup- 
pofed tranfadtion: while the difciples of 
reafon and of nature, will never ceafe to 
execrate the impious fable as worfe even 
than the former ftory. 

In the book of Exodus, ch. xxxii. we 
have the hiftory of the golden calf, which 
Aaron made at the requeft of the Ifrael- 
foes, and which they worfnipped. Where- 
fore we are told, " The Lord faid unto 
€C Mofes, I have (ten this people, and be- 
< c hold it is a fliff necked people. Now, 
c< therefore, let me alone, that my wrath 
u may wax hot againft them, and that I 
cc may confume them: and I will make of 
€C thee a great nation." The hiftory then 
acquaints us that " Mofes befought the 
" Lord his God, and faid, Lord, why doth 
cc thy wrath wax hot againft thy people, 
" which thou haft brought out of the land of 
f* Egypt?" &c wherefore fhould the E gyp- 
6 a tians 



80 An Apology for the 

c< tians fpeak and fay, For mifchief did he 
u bring them out, to flay them on the 
" mountains, and to confume them from 
cc the face of the earth ? Turn from thy 
Cf fierce wrath, and repent of this evil 
" againft thy people. Remember Abra- 
Cf ham, Ifaac, and Ifrael, thy fervants, to 
u whom thou fwareft by thine own felf, 
cc and faidft unto them 5 1 will multiply your 
" feed as the ftars of heaven, and all this 
"land that I have fpoken of will I give 
" unto your feed, and they fhall inherit it 
" for ever. And the Lord repented him 
€( of the evil which he thought to do unto 
"his people." A very extraordinary re- 
prefentation this of the true God! and, 
when the reader has confidered it well, he 
will decide whether it is more fuitable to 
his character, or to the. character of a frail, 
irritable, vain-glorious mortal. The im- 
mutable Deity is here reprefented as liable 
to depart from his purpofe; and, when in 
great danger, from provocation, of break- 
ing 



Difbelief of Revealed Religion. $ t 

Trig his promife, though bound by his oath 
to perform it, as being induced to recent of 
bis rajhnefs by the fear of reproach. 

Dr. Geddes fays, in the preface to vol. i. 
of his Tranflation, p. 12, "Indeed the 
" whole tenor of the Pentateuch convinces 
" me that the more ancient Hebrews were 
" real anthropomorphites: and to this 
" alone, I think, we are to afcribe all 
-" thofe exprefiions concerning the Deity 
* c that feem to degrade the Deity." In 
this opinion I perfeftly coincide with him, 
excepting that I muft contend for its 
being a reaU and not merely afeeming de- 
gradation. But if there were a revelation 
made to thefe Hebrews, in order to give 
them the knowledge of the one true God, 
we certainly fhould not expeft to find them 
anthropomorphites. 

Another fpecimen of what is fo extremely 

offenfive in any work claiming to have the 

G fanftion 



§2 An Apoiogy for the 

fanftion of Heaven, fhall be produced, 
not from the books of Mofes, but the ift 
book of Samuel, ch. i. It is the account 
of the birth of Samuel, one of the mod 
diftinguifhed perfonages in the Jewifh hif- 
tory. The account fays that a man named 
Elkanah had two wives, Hannah and Pe- 
ninna: the latter of whom brought him 
children, while the firft was barren, though 
fhe feems to have been the moft favoured. 
Between thefe two women there was much 
imeafinefs, for we are told that Hannah's 
" adverfary provoked her fore for to make 
" her fret, becaufe the Lord had (hut 
cc up her wombs" wherefore, it is added, 
<c fhe was in bitternefs of foul, and prayed 
cc unto the Lord, and wept fore; and fhe 
<c vowed a vow and faid, O Lord of holts, 
" if thou wilt indeed look on the afflidlion 
" of thine handmaid, and remember me, 
" and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt 
€€ give unto thine handmaid a man-child> 
" then will I give him unto the Lord all the 
cc days of his life," &c. In the fequel we are 



Dijbelief of Revealed Religion . 8 ? 

informed that her prayer was granted, that 
fhe bare a fon, and called his name SamucL 

It muft be acknowledged there is in 
this little tale a number of circumftances 
unneceffary to be particularized by me, 
which would render it very interefting if 
it refpefted not Almighty God, and only 
concerned fome imagined heal deity with 
human paffions. But can any ierious be- 
liever in the all-wife Creator and Governor 
of the world hear, with patience, of his 
interfering, by a miracle, to redrefs a griev- 
ance arifing from a difpute between Elka- 
nah's two wives ? I do not mean to be ludi- 
crous, though fome perfons might take the 
occaffon. I am in very ferious earneft, as 
I mean to be in all that I fhall further ad-. 
vance. 

It is not my intention to notice every 

think ofFenfive to religion, which is found 

in the Old Teftament. I think it necef- 

G 2 farv, 



84 An Apology for the 

fary, however, to bring forward certain 
matters related of the prophets Ifaiah, Eze~ 
kiel, and Hofea. 

In the xxth ch. of Ifaiah we read, " The 
cc Lord (pake by Ifaiah, the fon of Amoz, 
<c faying, Go, and loafs the Jackchtb from off 
" thy loins, and put off thy fhoe from thy 
" foot : and he did fo, walking naked and 
" bare-foot. And the Lord faid, like as 
* ff my fervant Ifaiah hath walked naked and 
<c bare-foot, three years, for a fign and 
■ €€ wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia : 
« c fo fhali the king of Affyria lead away the 
€C Egyptians prifoners, and the Ethiopians 
■" captives, young and old, naked and bare- 
i€ foot, even with their buttocks uncovered'* 

In the ivth ch. of Ezekiel, we read that 
he was commanded by God to make a 
reprefentation, on a tile of Jerufalem be- 
fieged : — that he was then commanded to 
lie firft on his left fide, during three hun- 
dred 



Dijbelief of Revealed Religion.. 85 

dred and ninety days, and bear the iniquity 
of the houfe of Ifrael, and afterward to lie 
on his right fide during forty days, and bear 
the iniquity of the houfe of Judah; — that 
he was further commanded to make a cer- 
tain kind of bread, of which he was to eat 
while he lay on his fide three hundred and 
ninety days:— and that he was likewife 
commanded to bake this bread in the fight 
of his countrymen, with human dung** 
And the Lord faid, (as we are told) "Even 
cc thus fhall the children of Ifrael eat their 
cc defiled bread among the Gentiles whi- 
" ther I will drive them." We are, how- 
ever, informed that, on his remonftrating, 
the prophet was permitted to life cow's 
duns; as a fubftitute. 



*o 



What I fhall produce refpe£Hng the 
prophet Hofea> occurs in the firft and third 

* If the reader ihould be difgufted, he may very- 
well fuppofe that I, too, am fo. Never thelefs, if 
he will take the trouble to confult his Bible, he 
will perceive that I am guilty of no exaggeration.. 

G \ 



86 An Apology for the 

chapters of the book which bears his name. 
He is there faid to have received an order 
from God as thus: rc Go, take unto thee 
€C a wife of whoredoms and children of 
cc whoredoms ; for the land hath 'com- 
u mittcd great whoredom, departing -from 
" the Lord." It is added, cc So he went and 
cc took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim 
[fuppofed a common proftitute] cc which 
conceived and bare him afon," and as the 
narrative further tells us, (be afterwards 
bare him two others. In the third chap- 
ter he ipeaks of hirnfelf in the firft perfon. 
Cf Then faid the Lord unto me, Go yer, 
€C love a woman beloved of her friend, yet 
u an adulterefs, according to the love of 
u the Lord toward the children of Ifrael," 
&c. " So I bought her unto me for 
" fifteen pieces of filver, and for an homer 
" of barley, and an half homer of barley. 
<c And I faid unto her, Thou (halt abide 
<f for me many days, thou (halt not play 
* c the harlot, and thou fhalt not be for ano- 

" ihcr 



Dijbellef of Revealed Religi on. 87 

*' ther man, fo will I alfo be for thee." 
But he has not acquainted us that he had 
any children by this adulterefs. 

Now, though there are many whofe 
faith cannot be daggered by any indecency 
or abjkrdity> however grofs, or wickednefs, 
however flagrant, which may appear to 
have the countenance of their religion, 
imagining that thereby fuch enormities 
are confecrated, and their very nature 
changed -, there are yet fome who are in- 
capable of doing fuch violence to their 
reafon. Of this number was the late Mr. 
Farmer, a learned and ingenious man. Ac- 
cording to this gentleman, many learned 
writers have attempted to (hew that Ho- 
fea's marrying Gomer, and taking to him 
children of whoredom — that Jeremiah's 
putting a linen girdle upon his loins, going 
to the Euphrates, and hiding it in a hole 
of a rock — that thefe, and many other ac- 
tions afcribed to the ancient prophets, 
G 4 were 



88 An Apology for the 

were only imaginary and Jcenical, and that 
narratives of this kind are to be understood 
as a hiftory only of prophetic vifions, though 
it be not pofitively faid that the things re- 
lated were no where performed but upon 
the ftage of fancy. And Mr. Farmer, for 
himfelf, declares, cc We may well allow 
" that all thefe things, or moft of them, 
<c were tranfa&ed only in vifion; not 
c< merely becaufe we hereby avoid the in- 
Cf conveniences attending the literal in- 
" terpretation ; but alfo becaufe the lively 
€€ reprefentation of thefe things in vifion 
u conveyed the fame inftruftion, and an- 
<c fvvered every purpofe, as well as the real 
ce performance could have done *." Not- 
withftanding this bold affertion, it muft be 
evident, to a perfon of the commoneft tin- 
derftanding, that what thus paffed, unob- 
ferved by any but himfelf, in the prophet's 

* See an Enquiry into the Nature and Defigt* 
of Chrift's Temptation in the Wildemefs, p. 34. 

Note. 

own 



Dijbelief of Revealed Religion, 89 

own imagination, could not convey in- 
ftruflion to other men, which we learn, 
from the account of feveral of rhefe fup- 
poftd tranfa&ions, was their objedt. Eze- 
kiel, we are told, was ordered to bake his 
breads the fight of his countrymen 5 Ifaiah 
to walk naked and bare-foot for a ftgn 
and a wonder; and I think, though it is 
net exprefsly fo affirmed, we are given to 
underftand that what is faid to have been 
done by Hofea was meant for zfign and a 
wonder too. Yet, asftgns and wonders, it 
is certain that thefe feppofed tranfaftions 
could not anfwer their end, unlefs they 
were not vifionary matters, but matters of 
fad, and matters alfo of public notoriety. I 
fhall not difpute the convenience of this 
mode of interpretation, which feems to 
have been the grand reafon for adopting 
it*. 

Such are fome of the unworthy, and I 
fcruple not to ftyle them impious, repre- 

* See Appendix, No. 1, 

fenfat-ionflfc 



go An Apology for the 

fentations of the Deity found in the Old 
Teftament. But it has been aflerted that, 
nothing can be more engaging, or more 
confident with true philofophy, than the 
amiable reprefentations of the Supreme, 
which the New Teftament affords ; where 
he is continually defcribed as a Father : — 
whofe deftgn, therefore, mufi be to make his 
children, i. e. all his creatures, happy. 

Now I am very willing to admit that 
true philofophy would indeed lead us to 
conceive of God as the UNIVERSAL 
PARENT : but I am perfuaded that this 
idea never found its way into the mind of 
Jefus Chrift, or the minds of his apoftles. 
The term Father, as ufed by them, feems 
to denote the relation fubfifting, or ima- 
gined to fubfift, between the Deity and the 
Chriflian brotherhood, cc the houfehold of 
" faith," with Jefus Chrift at the head of 
it. This appears from the account given 
by Chrift and his apoftles of xhz future con- 
dition 



Difbelief of Revealed Religion. 9 r 

ditim to which the great majority of the 
human race is deftinedj which is aftate of 

mifery without end. 

That Chriil meant his hearers fhould 
thus conceive of the future condition of 
wicked men, whom he always defcribes as 
the great majority, there feems no room to 
doubt when we read his reiterated declara- 
tions concerning the fire that never Jhall 
he quenched^ and the worm that dieih not. 
The language is utterly improper, and 
what he could not have ufeci, if he intend- 
ed to be underftood as holding" out the pu- 
nifhment of annihilation, or complete defiruc- 
tion. In that cafe, the appropriate terms 
would have been a confuming fire and a de- 
vouring worm. The language, moreover, 
employed by Chrift, correfponds perfectly 
with the apocalyptical account of a lake of 
fire where men are to be tormented, and 
where the fmoke of their torment is faid to 

afcend for ever and ever* 

But 



g2 *An Apology for the 

But certain philofophical chriftians be- 
ing (hocked, as well they may be, at fuch 
a do&rine, affirm that there are no words 
of Chrift which exprefs, i. e, exprefs literally y 
the idea of eternal torments. The writings 
of the New Teftament, it is true, are re- 
markable for figurative expreffions. How- 
ever, the fenfe of any writer may be clear 
and determinate, when the expreffion is 
figurative. If one fhould fay, cc The fleet 
"failed from the mouth of the river; or, 
" The cottage ftands at the foot of the 
u mountain:" I cannot believe any man 
would contend that the words compofing 
either of thofe fentences do not convey a 
meaning clear and determinate. It feems 
evident to me, therefore, that a doctrine 
may be clearly taught in a book where it 
is never once exprefled literally. And, 
therefore, when Jefus Chrift addreffed his 
hearers in the terms above quoted, it ap- 
pears to me that he taught, though not li- 
terally, the dodhine of eternal torments, this 
being the genuine import of his words, 

6 It 



Difoelief of Revealed Religion. 93 

It is extraordinary that thofe philofophi- 
cal chriftians, who fay they derive their 
belief of a future ftate of virtuous happi- 
nefs for all human beings from the gofpel 
of Jefus Chrift, fnould yet find themfelves 
compelled to acknowledge (as I believe 
mod of them do acknowledge) that Jefus 
Chrift himfelf, and his apoftles, with the 
exception of Paul, expected the ultimate 
deftruttim of the wicked, like chaff and 
tares caft into an unquenchable fire, or a 
carcafe expofed to an immortal worm, 
which muft in time be totally confumed. 
But if Chrift and his apoftles expedted, 
and taught, that the Deity intended to 
confign the great majority of the human 
race to a miferable exiftence firft, and then 
to ultimate deftruftion, they unquestiona- 
bly never drew the phiiofophical inference 
from the paternal charatfer of the Deity — 
that it muft be his defign to make his 
children (viz. all his creatures) happy. 
With their views, fo to reafon was impof- 
fible. And further we may remark, 

though 



^4 dft apology for the 

though it were admitted that thofe ex- 
traordinary teachers never delivered the 
tlo&rine of eternal torments, and only 
taught that God would confign his human 
offspring to great and to final mifery, furely 
thus to reprefent the Supreme Being, is 
to reprefent him not as a benevcknty but 
rather as an unnatural Father *. 

When we contemplate the character of 
a wife and benevolent Parent fubjefting, 
his children lojalutary difcipline, from fuch 
a chara&er it is not in our power to with- 
hold our love and refpeSi. But all men muft 
agree to acknowledge that it is not fuch a 
cli&ra&er which is fuggefted to us by the 
doftrine of eternal, or that of final, mifery,. 
or by that ftriking prediftion of fiery ven- 
geance above f cited from Paul's 2d 
Epiftle to the Thefialonians. Neverthe- 
lefs, in order to the very being of true 
piety, it is neceffary that the worfhipper 

S* See Appendix, No. 2. t Page 69. 

ftiould 






DiJBelief of Revealed Religion. 95 

fhould conceive of the objeft of his wor- 
fhip as pofle fling the attributes of wifdom* 
benevolence and juftice: becaufe any thing 
meriting the name of piety or religion^ 
mud include veneration. A Deity want- 
ing thefe attributes cannot be a venerable 
objedt. Such, however, is the fcriptural 
Deity, as appears from the reprefentations 
of him which have been adduced from the 
Old and New Teftament. He may be 
the objecl of fervile fear, or prefumptuous 
confidence; and miferable flattery may be 
offered up to him in the way of worfhip: 
he may even be the objecl of gratitude for 
partial favour, of which the worfhipper 
may fondly dream: but, till the natures of 
good and evil are changed, the objeft of 
veneration he cannot be. 



SECHON 



96 An Apology for the 

SECTION II. 

"Of the Morality of the New Teftament. 

I shall now proceed to confider the 
morality of the New Teftament, which by 
the late Mr. Soame Jenyns was deemed 
to poffefs fuch peculiar excellence as alone 
to furniih proof of the truth of the chris- 
tian revelation. This he has endeavoured 
to fhew in his book on the Internal Evi- 
dence. The account of evangelical mo- 
rality there given by that very elegant and 
ingenious writer has been highly com- 
mended by a living author of great repu- 
tation, Archdeacon Paley.; though he is 
of opinion that the proper argument for 
chriftianity, as a revelation, refts upon 
other ground. The archdeacon, more- 
over, thus fpeaks on the fubjeft for himfelf. 

u The truth is, there are two oppofite 

u defcrip- 



Dlfhelief of Revealed Religion . 97 

<c defcriptions of character under which 
<c mankind may generally be placed. The 
" one pofleffes vigour, firmnefs, refolu- 
iC tion, is daring and a&ive, quick in its 
" fenfibilities, jealous of its fame, eager in 
" its attachments, inflexible in its purpofe, 
" violent in its refentments. 

" The other meek, yielding, comply- 
" ing, forgiving: not prompt to aft, but 
" willing to fuffer, filent and gentle under 
<c rudenefs and infult, fuing for reconcilia- 
cc tion where others would demand fatisfac- 
" tion, giving way to the pufhes of impu- 
f dence, conceding and indulgent to the 
" prejudices, the wrongheadednefs, the in- 
" tradability of thofe with whom it has 

u to deal. 

> 

u The former of thefe characters is, and 
cc ever hath been, the favourite of the 
P world. It is the character of great men. 
V There is a dignity in it which univerfally 
" commands refpeft. 

H "The 



98 An Apology for the 

" The latter is poor-fpirited, tame and 
u abjeft. Yet fo it hath happened that, 
" with the founder of chriftianity, this 
* latter is the fubje£t of his commenda-* 
" tion, his precepts, his example; and that 
" the former is fo in no part of its compo- 
" fition. This, and nothing elfe, is the cha • 
11 rafter defigned in the following remark - 
V able paflages : Refift not evil, but who- 
u Jbever Jhalljmite thee on the right cheeky 
" turn to him the other alfo; and if any man 
<€ will fue thee at the law, and take away 
" thy coat } let him have thy cloke alfo ; and 
" whofoever fhall compel thee to go a mile, go 
u with him twain: love your enemies \ blefs 
€t them that curfe you\ do good to them that 
u hate you ; and pray for them which defpite- 
u fully life you, and perjecute you. This, 
" certainly, is not common-place morality* 
"It is very original. It fhews at leaft 
" (and it is for this purpofe we produce 
" it) that no two things can be more dif- 
" ferent than the heroic and the Chriftian 
«< charatter." 

" Now 



Dijbelief cf Revealed Religion. 99 

" Now the author to whom I refer 
" [Mr. Jenyns] has not only remarked 
" this difference more ftrongly than any 
" preceding writer, but has proved in con- 
" tradition to firft impreffions, to popular 
cc opinion, to the encomiums of orators 
" and poets, and even to the fuffrages 
cc of hiftorians and moralifts, that the latter 
" poffeffes the moft of true worth, as being 
<c moft difficult either to be acquired or 
" fuftained, and as contributing moft to 
f * the happinefs of focial life * ,J Mr. 
Paley then gives the ftate of Mr. Jenyns's 
argument. But, not to extend the quota- 
tion, let us admit that the latter of thefe 
chara&ers is demonftrated to be the pre- 
ferable one. Neverthelefs, may it not 
ftill be, in point of moral excellence, very 
inferior to what we can conceive ? And may 
we not, very naturally, inquire further, 

* See Paley 's View of the Evidences of Chrif- 
tianity, vol. ii. pp. 101, 102, 103/ 104. 

H 2 Whether 



100 An Apology for the 

Whether it be not poffible to refift and 
oppofe the unjuft treatment of wicked 
men, without being a&uated by a fpirit of 



revenge ? 



Whether the oppofing injuftice, with 
firmnefs and temper, be not the beft way 
to check it? 

Whether non-refiftance of ill-treatment 
be not the ready way to invite it*? 

* The Quakers feem to have been the only con- 
Jifient christians in regard to the doctrine of non- 
refiftance : all other chriflians having not only 
practifed in direct opposition to their Mailer's pre- 
cepts, but having, likewife, contumaciously defend- 
ed their practice. On this occaiion, I cannot avoid 
recollecting the ridicule upon the conduct of the 
Friends, which Lord Lyttelton, the great cham- 
pion of chrirtianity, has put into the mouth of 
Cortez, the conqueror of Mexico, in his dialogue 
with "William Penn. And, I doubt not, his lord - 
fhip confidered Cortez's retort not merely as na- 
tural for him to ufe, but as jufi in itfelf. — See 
Dialogues of the Dead. 

Whether 



D I/belief of Revealed Religion . I o I 

Whether the happinefs of focial life be 
not better promoted by properly checking 
unjuft men, than by inviting and encourag- 
ing them to afts of injuftice ? 

Whether the precepts enjoining the non~ 
refiftance of evil, the complying with un- 
juft requirements, even beyond what is 
required, the giving more of one's pro- 
perty to him who would wrongfully take 
away a part (i. e. literally giving a reward 
for a robbery) do not enjoin a falfe and 
unfound fpecies of morality ? And, laftly, 

Whether it be reafonable to expert that 

Juch morality fhould proceed from a 

teacher of morals, immediately fent from 

God, and by him fpecially appointed to 

that office ? 

In a fermon of Tiliotfbn's, on the obli- 
gations of chriftians to a holy life, he ufes 
this language, " When thou art about to 
" debafe thyfelf — remember thou art a 
H 3 u chriftiafu" 



102 An Apology for the 

€< chriftian." So fpeaks the archbifhop ; 
and he is, by no means, Angular. But the 
exhortation does not accord very happily 
with the archdeacon's defcription of the 
chriftian character, as being a poor-Jpirited 
thing, tame and abjell ; a chara6ter, how- 
ever, which he affirms that Chrift himfclf 
exemplified. This, it muft be owned, is 
extraordinary, as coming from a friend to 
chriftianiiy, and a chriftian advocate. 
What other chriftians think of it, I know 
not. Yet it is certainly a qucftion which 
they will do well to confider attentively, 
Whether Mr. Paley be authorized, by the 
paffages he has cited, to apply, as he has, 
the above-mentioned revolting epithets ? 
Whatever may be their determination on 
this point, it muft be evident, I think, to 
any perfon who will exercife his judgment 
freely, as on other occafions, that the mo- 
rality of the New Teftament is, at leaft, 
imperfeft and defective. But I will venture 
to go further and to affirm, that the doc- 
trine 



Dijbeltef of Revealed Religion. 103 

trine exhibited in that book, as delivered 
by Chrift himfelf, is, in fome inftances, 
highly cenfurable for its immorality. In 
proof of this charge, I appeal to two para- 
bles recorded in Matthew's hiftory. In 
the firft ofthefe* we are told of a king 
who had a fervant that flood indebted to 
him in the amount of ten thoufand talents. 
" But for as much (fays the ltory) as he 
<c had not to pay, his lord commanded 
" him to be/old, and his wife and chil- 
" dren, and all that he had, and payment 
" to be made." However, upon the debt- 
or's fupplication, w r e are informed that his 
lord forgave him. This fervant, neverthe- 
lefs, refufing to (hew like mercy to a fellow- 
fervant who owed him a hundred talents, 
it is faid, €i his lord was wroth, and deli- 
" vered him to the tormentors till he fhould 
" pay all that was due unto him." It is 
obfervable, we are not told that the wife 
and children of this fervant were delivered 

• See xviiith chapter, 

H 4 to 



104 An Apology J or the 

to the tormentors, though in the firft in- 
fiance they were ordered to be fold. But, 
paffing over this matter, I would requeft 
ferious and honeft men to declare, whe- 
ther they, in their confciences, efteem it a 
right, or a wrong procedure, to torment a 
perfon for the non-payment of what, it is 
confefled, he cannot pay ? And then, Whe- 
ther they can fee any juftice in punifhing a 
man for the non-payment of a debt which 
has been cancelled? What is moft deferv- 
ing of notice in the (lory is, this unrighte' 
ous king is propofed as the representative 
of the Deitv. 

In the other parable* we have prefented 
to us a ,houfeholder who is faid to have 
hired labourers to work in his vineyard, 
and to have agreed to pay the fame fum to 
all, notwithftanding feveral of them were 
hired at a very late hour. When the even- 
ing arrived, we are told, " The lord of the 

* Matt, xxth chapter. 

" vineyard 



Difbelief of Revealed Religion. I o 5 

ic vineyard faid unto his fteward, Call the 
" labourers and give them their hire, be- 
" ginning from the laft unto the firft." 
But they who had laboured the whole day 
murmured, upon feeing thcfe who had 
laboured one hour only paid equally with 
themfelves. Upon which, the lord of the 
vineyard is reprefented as addreffing one 
of the murmurers in the following terms: 
" Friend, I do thee no wrong: didft thou 
c< not agree with me for a penny? Take 
" that thine is, and go thy way: I will 
cc give unto this laft even as unto thee. 
<c Is it not lawful for mc to do what J will 
" with my own? Is thine eye evil becaufe 
« I am good?" Now, though it fhould be 
granted that there was no breach of juftice 
in paying the fame fum to the labourers of 
one hour and to thofe who had " borne 
•* the burthen and heat of the day V yet 

the 

I* I do not know that any learned theologian has 
ver attempted to reconcile the doctrine taught 
here 



CO 6 An Apology for the 

the making fuch a diftin&ion in the pre- 
fence of thofe who had dearly earned their 
hire, will fcarcely fail to receive the blame 
due to an invidious aft from every good 
mind which dares to have an opinion. 
But the thing which is mod ftriking, and 
peculiarly obje&ionable, is, the general 
maxim implied in the queftion, " May I 
<c not do what 1 will with my own?" From 
the mouth of a defpot, one would not won- 
der to hear this language; it might fuit 
well enough the character of an avaricious 
churl, or a riotous libertine; but furely 
it is not what we fhould expedt a good 
man to utter; notwithstanding the pe|fbn 
to whom it is attributed calls himfelf fo. 
It is, however, mod extraordinary that this 

here with the doctrine that men (hall be rewarded 
according to tlieir works. Neither do I remember 
to have met with any one who undertook to fhew 
how well the conduct afcribed to the lord of the 
vineyard fquared with that excellent precept, 
" Whatfoever ye would that men fhould do unto 
44 you, do ye even fo unto them. J> 

perfon 



Dijbeliefof Revealed Religion. 1 07 

perfon (hould, like the king in the pre- 
ceding ftory, be made to reprefent the 

Author of all good. 

But, as the moral capacity of man is 
derived from his intellect, and as the high- 
eft fpecies of moral merit cannot exift 
without much intellectual improvement, 
it is neceflary, in eftimating the morality 
of the New Teftament, to confider what 
afpedt the doftrines of that book have 
upon intellectual culture. And, I think, 
it will fcarcely be affirmed that what we 
call a liberal curiofity or defire of know- 
ledge ever received much encouragement 
either from Chrift or his apoftles. The 
genius, indeed, of chriftianity feems 
quite unfriendly to the purfuits of 
fcience and philofophy. — Chriftians are 
told that One Thing is needful, — that 
they are pilgrims and ftrangers on earth, 
and {hould feek a better country ; and 
they are exhorted to fet their affe&ions on 

things 



Io8 An Apology for the 

things above, not on earthly things. What 
Mr. Jenyns fays of this detachment from the 
world well deferves notice. He defcribes 
it as cc a moral virtue conftituted by this 
u religion [chriftianity] alone: fo new 
<c that, even at this day, few of its profef- 
" fors can be perfuaded that it is required, 
" or that it is any virtue at all*." True 
it is, that he feems to have thought it 
needed fome explanation: and fome per- 
fons may imagine he has pretty well ex- 
plained it away. To me it appears that, 
where this new virtue has taken fafi hold, 
the mind has generally been difqualified 
for fcientific purfuits, and for any other 
than imagined heavenly ones : and, upon 
the other hand, I believe, on inquiry, it 
will be found that, where chriftians have 
attained great eminence as philofophers, 
they have fet their affections both on fci- 
ence itfelf and on that diftinguijhed fit nation 

* See Jenyns's View of the Internal Evidence, &c. 
J). 85. 

which 



Difbetief of Revealed Religion . 109 

fthich they have occupied among their 
fellow men. <c They have received ho- 
" nour one from another, and fought not 
c< the honour which cometh from God 
* only." 

That Chrift himfelf was no friend to 
philofophical inveftigation is evident from 
the manner in which he delivered his in- 
ftru&ions. He feldom, if ever, fpoke but 
in the tone of authority, and required his 
Jaytngs to be received implicitly, on pain 
of incurring the difpleafure and even the 
condemnation of the Almighty. And 
Paul, though an argumentative writer, and 
by fome complimented with the title of 
philofopher, fo far from recommending, 
has exprefsly cautioned thofe to whom he 
wrote againft the mifchievous tendency of 
philofophy. It is alleged, indeed, that 
Paul, by the term, intended to defignate 
the dodtrine of the Gnoftics. If fo, he is 
cenfurable for great inaccuracy, not to fay 

injuftice. 



HO An Apology for the 

injuftice, in giving exclufively the name 
of philofophy to what he efteemed falfe 
and mifchievous, while (as rf is fuppofed 
by thefe his advocates) he was acquainted 
with a better philofophy, the advantages 
of which he withheld from thofe for whofe 
inftrudlion he was writing. In my opi- 
nion, the praife of philofophical investiga- 
tion was not due to him for any thing of 
his which I have feenj and I do not con- 
ceive that he either was, or pretended to 
be, a philofopher. A philofopher inquires 
concerning truth and good* like wife con- 
cerning the nature of 'man , and what it is 
which conftitutes his perfection and happi- 
nefs: And where any religicn whatfoever 
is in queftion, he inquires whether it bears 
the marks of truth and good, and hdw it is 
calculated to influence the mind. More- 
over he is very cautious in his inquiry, left 
he fhould be fubje&ed to impofition, al- 
ways demanding what (hall appear fco him 
juft and fatisfa&ory evidence. 

Now 



Difbelief of Revealed Religion . Ill 
Now to me, it feems as if it had been 
the objeft of Paul to reprobate fuch inqui- 
ries, and to brand them, as highly offen- 
five to the Deity. " It is written, (faith 
he to the Corinthians, Epif. i. chap, i.) 
" I will deftroy the wifdom of the wife, 
" and will bring to nothing the underftand- 
" of the prudent. Where is the wife? 
" Where is the fcribe ? Where is the dif- 
" puter of this world? Hath not God 
cc made foolifh the wifdom of this world?" 
—and adds much more in the fame ftrain. 

Upon the whole, it is fufficiently evi- 
dent that the morality of the New Tcfta- 
ment, defe6tive as it is, and in certain in- 
ftances pernicious, is not of divine origin; 
and it is equally plain that, the detachment 
from the world, the fubmiffive acquiefcence 
and implicit faith required by its firft 
teachers, are hoftile to intelleftual im- 
provement. I ftrongly fufpedl, indeed, 
that fome advocates for chriftianity are 

not 



112 An Apology for the 

not perfectly aware <c what fpirit they are 
" of." It is not a Chriftian fpirit. In 
fome refpe&s, perhaps, it is better. 



SECTION III. 

Of QbjcSlionahle Matter infepar able from tin 
Chriftian Faith. 

While the generality ofchriftians have 
believed, or afxefted to believe, that the 
canonical books of fcripture were written 
by men divinely infpired for that purpoie, 
certain fpeculative and philofophical per- 
fons admitting the truth both of the old 
Revelation and the new, have neverthelefs 
thought the greateft part of fcripture to 
have been written without infpiration, be- 
caufe it was tinneceflary ; and they have 
likewife thought many things contained ia 
the fcriptural books to be, on feveral ac- 
counts, highly obje&ionable. Some of 
i thefe 



Dijbelief of Revealed Religion. 113 

fhefe matters they have explained away, 
and others they have rejected. 

I do not mean to aflert, that a man may 
not rejedt much fcriptural matter (and 
much there is) which muit be extremely 
offenfive to a religious perfon who has not 
renounced his underftanding, and frill be a 
confident believer in boch Revelations; 
but, in my apprehenfion, there are fome 
things of this kind which are infeparable 
from the proper chriftian faith, And as 
that which cannot be well difputed, I fhall 
mention the doftrine of Chrift himfelf re- 
corded by the evangelifts. 

I know there are fome chriftians who 
contend for the fallibility of their Mafter: 
but I doubt much whether he would have 
admitted fuch men as his difciples if, when 
he was living, he had met with any fuch 
candidates for difciplefhip, Should the 
reader think otherwife, let him carefully 
I attend 



114 An Apology for the 

attend to the character aflfumed by Jefus 
Chrid, and the fiyle in which he delivered 
himfelf. From the latter, perhaps, his 
pretenfions may be more certainly learned 
than from the expreffions which, whea 
fpeaking of himfelf, he has chofen to adopt. 
Though he fometimes, indeed very rarely, 
condefcends to reafon with his audience^ 
the general drain of his leftures is a drain 
of high authority. This is their charac- 
teridic diftinftion.' Again and again the 
remarkable phrafeology occurs " Verily, 
cc verily I jay unto you, &c." Confidering 
this in connection with fuch paiTages as the 
following, in which he announces himfelf, 
we can neither be much at a lofs concern- 
ing his lofty pretenfions, nor how he would 
have borne to hear them quedioned* 
Thefe, we are told, are his expreffions: 
u He whom God hath fent fpeaketh the 
iC words of God: for God giveth not the 
cc fpirit by meafure to him *." c< He thac 

* John, 3d chapter, 34th verfe. 

cf loveth 



Bljbellef of Revealed Religion. I i $ 

u loveth me not kcepeth not my fayings: 
" and the word which you hear is not 
<c mine, but the Father's who fent me*." 
cc Verily, verily I fay unto you, the Son 
ff can do nothing of himfeif but what he 
" feeth the Father do: for what things 
cc foever he doth, thefe alfo doth the Son 
" likewife. For the Father loveth the Son, 
" and Jhezveth him all things w 7 hich himfeif 
"doth, ekef" " Of that day and that 
cc hour knoweth no man, no, not the an- 
cc gels which are in heaven, neither the Son, 
u but the Father J." " All things are 
cc delivered unto me of my Father; and no 
" man knoweth the Son but the Father : 
"neither knoweth any man the Father 
cc fave the Son, and he to whomfoever 
" the Son will reveal him §." This is 

# John, 14th chap. 24th verfe. f John, 5th chap. 

% Mark, 13th chapter. This, imdeed, does not 
agree very well with the preceding quotation : but 
that is not my affair. 

§ Matthew, lltli chapter* 

I 2 certainly 



ji6 An Apology for the 

certainly very extraordinary language,. and 1 , 
fuch as, I believe, never fell from the lips 
of any other human being. 

Now the grand do£trine, in the eftima- 
tion of philofophical chriftians, which this 
fingular Teacher delivered, is the doflrine 
of a future life of hapfmefs for good, and 
yiifery for bad men. But if they believe 
thisdoftrine upon the authority ofChrift, 
it appears to me they muft, if confiftent, 
believe, likewife, upon the fame authority, 
that the bad men (who, we are told by the 
fame authority, compofe the great mafs of 
mankind) are to be configned to durable 
and finals if not to everlafting mifery *'j 
which, confequently, muft have been the 
fate always intended for them by their 

* This is confeffed to be the do&rine of C/mfi 
by fome chriftians who difcover, or think they dis- 
cover, in the writings of Paul, the do&rine of ulti- 
mate virtuous happinefs for all men, — See pp. 93 
and 94. 

Maker, 



Dijbrtlef cf Revealed 'Religion . 1 1 y 

Maker, intended even in the moment of 
their creation. 

The above is adduced as a finking in- 
ftance of objectionable matter infeparablc 
from the belief of a confident chriftian ; 
though, in my own opinion, it is very far 
from being the only inftance, and it is 
poffible that, in this refpedt, the reader may 
think with me. 

SECTION IV. 

Of the Infufficiency of the Argument from 
Tejlimony. 

The argument in proof of the chriftian 
Revelation derived from teftimony is 
efteemed the principal argument, and, by 
very refpe6table men, confidered as irre- 
fragable. I apprehend it will be fairly 
ftated thus : 

Becaufe the firft chriftiaas profefled their 

confident belief in the truth of the chrif- 

1 3 tian 



1 1 8 An Apology for the 

tian miracles, and becaufe, under the influ- 
ence of that belief, they a6ted and fuffered 
and even facrificed their lives — it is infer- 
red that therefore the chriftian miracles 
were real -, and from their reality the truth 
of the chriftian revelation is inferred. 

In oppofition to this may be put the ig- 
norance of the age, relative to the fubjefl: 
under confideration, and particularly of 
the people in the firft place concerned. To 
the jews, a miracle feems to have been 
nothing very extraordinary : and, with the 
more enlightened part of mankind, prodi- 
gies feem not at all to have been inadmif- 
fible. The philofophical and fcrutinizing 
fpirit of modern times did not exift. And 
when it has been faid, with triumph, that 
Julian, (who, indeed, lived fome centuries 
after Chrift) although the accomplished 
and the determined enemy of chriftianity, 
did not deny the reality of the chriftian 
miracles, it feems to have been forgotten 

that, 



Dijbe^f of Revealed Religion. x 1 9 

that, with ail his accomplifhments and 
great abilities, Julian was remarkable as a 
believer in prodigies and miracles. 

Further, whereas it has been aflerted 
that, on fuppofition the chriitian miracles 
■were not real, the ftate of mind and con- 
duct of the firft cfrriftianshad no adequate 
-na:ural caufe, and therefore were greater 
miracles than any mentioned in the New 
Teftament: — now they mud, indeed, be 
admitted to have been miracles if the afler- 
-tion be true: but that cannot be admitted, 
fince it does not follow that there was no 
adequate natural caufe, becaufe we are un- 
able to di-fcover any. A fincere and cor- 
dial beliefs in whatever way generated, was 
quite fufficient to produce the conduct of 
the perfons in queftion. How far weak, 
and ignorant, and fuperftitious men, who 
are yet honed and upright, may be impojed 
en, I will not undertake to fay : but it muft 
be granted that fuch men are liable to im- 
I 4 pofition : 



120 An ApOiOgy for the 

pofition: and, I think, it will not be de- 
nied that men of a fuperior character, 
amiable PHILANTHROPISTS, 
prompted by generous fentiments, and af- 
piring to become the BENEFACTORS 
of their fpecies, may be induced to impcfe 
both on others and on them/elves. T his leads 
me to fuggeft to philofophical unitarians, 
who believe Jefus Chrift to have been 
merely a human beings that it may be worth 
while for them to reconfider the very link- 
ing and abfolutely fingular ftyle ufed by 
that extraordinary perfonage when fpeak- 
ing of himfelf. 



*o 



With refpe£t to the opinion, that the 
jews were familar with the idea of a mira- 
cle, it is derived from the evangelical hif- 
ftory. John fays, that the brethren of 
Chrift did not believe in him, though they 
were no ftrangers to the works which he 
performed ; for they advifed him to render 
himfelf more confpicuous thereby, and fhew 
i himfelf 



Dijbelief of Revealed Religion. 1 2 1 
himfelf to the world *. The fame writer 
declares, that though Ghrift had done/0 
m&ny miracles before them (thejewifh peo- 
ple) yet they believed not on him j\ — 
Now, if we reflect on the nature of a mi- 
racle, we muft fee that it cannot fail to 
excite the utmoft aftonifhment in thofe 
prefent at it, unlefs they be familiarized to 
fuch things: or unlefs the Supreme Being, 
(as the hiftorian would have us believe) at 
the fame time that he, by his prophet, 
works miracles, blinds the eyes of the per- 
fons in whofe prefence they are wrought, 
and hardens their hearts, fo that the mira- 
cles cannot produce their effedt. 

That the jews did not think a miracle 
to be a very ftrange thing, feems evident, 
likewife, from the ftory which John relates 
at the beginning of his 5th chapter: — 
" There is (faith he) at Jerufalem, by the 
<c fheep-market, a pool, which is called in 

* John, 7th chapter, f John, 12th chapter. 

" the 



122 An Apology for the 

CQ the Hebrew tongue, Bethefda, having 
rc five porches. In thefe lay a great mul- 
" titude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, 
(€ withered, waking for the moving of 
" the water. For an angel went down, 
* f at a certain feafon, into the pool, and 
/c troubled the water, Whofoever, then, 
(C firft after the troubling of the water ftep- 
xc ped in, was made whole of wbatfoever 
cc difeafe he had V On this ftory it is 

* A philofophical clergyman, on a certain oc- 
cafion, declared to me, that he mould as foon be- 
lieve a Perfian tale as this extraordinary narrative. 
The hiltory of the Devil's temptation of Chrift in 
the wildernefs f feems, however, to bear more re- 
femblance to a Perfian tale. Now, I would ob- 
ferve that, whatever abjurdtty an unprejudiced 
reader may find in thefe two flories, they are both 
related with the fame fimplicity as that whereby 
the writings of the evangelifis are -generally diftin- 
guiihed. Simplicity of ftyle, it is therefore pre- 
fumed, does not neceiTarily imply truth. Never- 
thelefs, it is well known how much ftrefs has been 
laid on the fimple ftyle of the evangelical hiftories. 

| See Apendtx, Mo. 1. 

obvious 



Dijbelief cf Revealed Religion . 123 

obvious to remark, that the hiftorian re- 
lates it as he would the ftory of any ordinary 
occurrence: and, wonderful as the events 
related muft have been, if real, we do not 
learn from him that they produced any 
emotion in the byftanders, or even attract- 
ed at all the attention of the inhabitants of 
Jerufalem. At London, I pre fume, if 
fuch things were to happen, the effect 
would be fomewhat different. 

The demoniacal po/feffions, too, fuppofed 
to occur fo frequently among this fuperfti- 
tious people, and of which we read Co 
much in the evangelical hiftories, were 
confidered by them as miraculous; equally 
fo as the means whereby the daemons were 
thought to be expelled: and Chrift him- 
felf appears to have admitted that various 
other men, as well as himfelf, were in the 
habit of performing miraculous expulfions. 
<c If/ (faith he) by Beelzebub caft out de- 

" vils, 



■Ta4 *& Apology for the 

* c vils, by whom do your children caft them 
<c out *?» 

From 

* Not being able to digeft the doctrine of Chrift 
and the evangelifts upon this fubject, Ibrnephilofo- 
;phical chriftia*ns have taken the liberty to reprefent 
both their majier and his immediate difeiphs as ig- 
norant believers in the popular fuperftition ; while 
others have thought it more for their maker's ho- 
nour, to fuppofe him perfectly aware that there 
was no diabolical agency in thefe cafes 5 but that, 
not efteeming it neceftary to remove the falfe no- 
tions of them, entertained even by his own difci- 
ples, he connived at their delufion. If, however, 
•he really knew better, hefeems to have not merely 
connived > he feems to have done more, when he 
affected to hold converfation with the evil fpirits, 
andlikewife to authorize certain of them, on their 
expulfion, to take poiTefnon of a herd of fwine. 
Neverthelefs, that Chrift himfelf was, in this re- 
fpect, as ignorant as other jews, no ingenuous per- 
fon, probably, would doubt, who fhould derive his 
opinion from the evangelifts, and not from the 
above-mentioned philosophers. But ihould any 
one judge that Chrift was fo ignorant and fuper- 
flitious as to believe that, which was indeed no- 
thing 



Difbelief of Revealed Religion. rOT^ 
From hence we are naturally led to 
confider the Reply to an Objection urged 
by certain unbelievers. They have ob- 
je£ted tha^ if the miracles which the New 
Teftament fpeaks of as wrought in proof- 
of chriftianity were real miracles, the whole 

lewifh nation muft have been converted: 

<j * 

as the evidence muft have been irre- 
fiftible. To this fome have replied > that 
the jews were induced to reject the- 
evidence by fuppofing the miracles to 
have been effected by the magical ufe of 
the divine name. This reply, if juft and: 
well-founded, fufficiently (tamps the cha- 
racter of the people : and, I think, a fmile 
may be pardoned, if, from the authors of 
fuch a reply, we (hould happen to hear of 

thing more than a natural difeafe, to be the effect 
of diabolical agency, I entreat that man to-- con- 
fider how well fuch ignorance and fuperfiition 
agree with the claims of this amiable and digni- 
fied enthufiaft to that immeafurable knowledge 
which he declared had been communicated to him 
by the Supreme Being, 

jews 



125 An Apology for the 

jews being difpofed to Jcrutinize miracles. 
Superfticion feems much better calculated 
to make men believers than to make them 
Jcrutinizers. And, though we admit that 
the Hebrew chriftianshad a ftrong intereft 
to examine carefully, it feems not very rea- 
fonable to judge that this intereft would 
have the fame effed upon a luperftitious 
jew as upon an enlightened modern Eu- 
ropean in circumftances otherwife fimilar, 
And who of the jewifh nation was free 
from fuperftition if, as is probable, Chrift 
himfelf was not ? The fame external cir- 
cumftances do not affedt all men in the 
fame manner. To fuppofe they do, is a 
grofs fallacy. 

The jews, it is likely, often imagined 
they faw miracles where none exifted. But 
the antecedent improbability of miracles and 
revelation muft, I fhould think, to a phi- 
lofopher, be an objection againft thern 
almoft, if not, altogether infurmountable. 

Granting 



Dijbe&f of Revealed Religion . 1 27 

Granting it, however, poffible that mira- 
cles may have been wrought in order to 
accompiifh fome grand defign not other- 
wife to be accompliftied even by the All- 
wife and the Almighty ', it is natural to in- 
quire, Has any fuch matter been effedted 
bv the ehriftian miracles ? — The great ob- 
ject of chriftianity, as its advocates declare^ 
was the reformation cf the worlds Allowing 
then that it was worth while to difiurb the 
order of nature for fo excellent a purpofe, 
Has the world been reformed ? The bold- 
eft ehriftian advocate will not, I believe, 
aflert fo much. Serioufly, 1 have no idea 
of any thing more extravagant than the 
affertion would be. Yet let us fuppofe 
(what cannot be thought too little) that, 
out of the immenfe population of this 
globe, during a period of near eighteen 
centuries, fome millions have become vir- 
tuous chriftians; — what proportion do 
they bear to the innumerable multitude of 
individuals who have compofed the gene- 
rations 



J 2? An Apology far the 

rations of mankind which, during the fame 
period, havefucceffively tenanted the earth ? 
Let us alfo fuppofe that chriftianity has 
contributed towards the melioration of hu- 
man affairs. Still, how far the effect is to 
be afcribed to itjimply, and how far to a li- 
beral and benevolent pbilofopby, will not 
be eafily fettled. In the mean time, I 
eonfider myfelf as completely juftified in 
affirming, if chriftianity were a fcheme for 
reforming the world, that it has moft- egre- 
gicujly failed* 

How it may appear to others I cannot 
tell, but it does not feem to me very cre- 
dible, admitting the poffibility of miracles, 
that fuch an unfortunate fcheme fhould 
have originated from, and have been fup- 
ported by, tht miraculous interference of the 
Deity: and to an unprejudiced perfon, I 
fufpedt, it will not be very fatisfaftory, as 
a folution of the difficulty,, to hear " That 
<c the reformation is going on, and, in due 
€C time, will be happily perfected." 

But 



Dijhehef of Rtvealed Religion . 129 

But, as the world has not been reformed 
by the chrifiian religion, (hould we inquire 
what that religion has actually done for 
mankind, it will appear, that in giving 
occafion to wars and persecutions the molt 
bloody and rancorous, it has produced a 
very great quantity of evil. Of this there 
can be no doubts and, while this cannot 
be denied, it is foreign to the queftion to 
talk, as fome do, of its genuine moral ten- 
dency (be that ever fo admirable), becaufe 
we are inquiring about matter of face. 
With regard to the good which has taken 
place fince the commencement of the 
chriftian sra, part of it at leaft, probably 
a large proportion, mud be attributed to 
the general diffvjion cf knowledge. We are 
pretty well informed what was the condi- 
tion of chriftendom during the middle 
ages, as they are termed. Since the re- 
vival of learning, there has been a prooref- 
five improvement, though not regularly 
progreffivc. Yet it well deferves notice, 
K thar. 



430 An Apology for the 

that, fmce chriftianity has prevailed, there 
has exifted in the world an evil greater 
than any that was ever experienced before 
that religion was known: — I mean the 
African flave trade, carried on by people 
calling thetnfelves chrijtians. It will be 
obferved, I do not fay that this horrid traf- 
fic has been authorized, and ic is not need- 
ful for me to prove that it has not been 
prevented \ by chriftianity. 

I do not, however, profefs, nor ever 
have profeffed, myfelf qualified to explain 
fufficiently the condu&ofthefirft chriftians: 
but I find myfelf in a fituation where it is 
neceffary to choofe between two difficulties; 
and therefore I choofe the lead. I muft 
either admit that the firft christians were 
under a delufton y or that the all-wife Author 
of the univerfe has difturbed the order of 
nature for the accomplilhment of what has 
not been accomplished \ when, had it been 
his purpofe to reform the world (as chrif- 

tians 



Dijbelief of Revealed Religion. 131 
tians afifert), he could have effe&ed that 
purpofe by the operation of natural caufes*, 
without having recourfe to miracles ; which, 
confequently, were fuperfiuous and unne- 
cessary. The laft part of the alternative 
is, indeed, fomething more than a difficulty, 
it is an impofftbility \ which, I am fatisfied, 
cannot be truly affirmed of the other, how- 
ever extraordinary it may appear: and, 
were we in poffeffion of the whole truth) 
every thing would, I believe, appear very 
natural. 
" Nature well known, no ^W/gw remain." 



It is hoped the Apology contained in 
the foregoing pages, will be fufficient to 
fliew that perfons may be induced to be- 
come unbelievers in revealed religion by 
better motives than thofe which have been 
imputed to fuch perfons by fome, from 

* I mud: requeft the reader to turn back to 
pp, 5Q and 60, 

K 2 whom 



132 An Apology for the 

whom they might have expecled different 
treatment*. 

A love of truth, a difiikc of impofition, 
and a defire of emancipation from unwor- 
thy and illiberal prejudices — thefe are prin- 
ciples f which influence the minds of in- 
genuous men in their inquiries: and one 
would be apt to think fuch men would not 
find it difficult to conceive that others 
might be governed by the fame princi- 
ples, though their inquiries fhould not 
terminate in the fame manner as their own, 

* With refpefi to myfelf, I think it right to fay 
here that I have been treated with great liberality 
by a philofophical chriftian, who has done me the 
honour to correfpond with me on the fubjed of 
thefe papers. 

f Though thefe are, in my eftimation, virtuous 
principles, and the pledges of further virtue in the 
character where they are found, they have been re- 
prefented (how juftly let the reader determine) as 
exifting where there is but little virtue. 

Adif- 



Dijbelief of Revealed Religion, 13 3 

A different termination feems, however, 
to have given offence. Yet furely no one, 
be his reputation or his merits what they 
may, is authorized, after having determin- 
ed for himfelf, to prefcribe the limit for 
other men, and iffue out his prohibition, 
cc Thus far fhall ye go, and no further/' 



K 3 APPENDIX, 



r 135 ) 

APPENDIX, 
No. I. 



When animadverting upon certain 
ftrangefadls related of the prophets Ifaiah, 
Ezekiel, and Hofea, I had occafion to 
mention Mr. Farmer's convenient me- 
thod of folving fuch difficulties, by con- 
sidering them as merely vifionary. That 
method appeared fo convenient to him, 
that he has been induced to convert 
what the writers of the Gofpel Hiftory 
have evidently delivered as matters of/atf, 
really and truly performed, into prophetic 
viftons. I refer to his interpretation of 
the feveral narratives of Chrift's tempta- 
tion in the wildernefs. This interpreta- 
tion is principally founded on the phrafe- 
ology ufcd, where it is faid, that Chrift 
was led by the Spirit, and driven by the 
K 4 Spirit^ 



156 Appendix. 

Spirit, into the wildernefs to be tempted 
by the devil Mr. F. fuppofes thefe ex- 
prcflions equivalent to thofe ufed to de- 
note the fupernatural operation which 
was thought to produce vifions in the 
minds of the prophets of the Old Tef- 
tament. The books, however, where the 
accounts of thefe vifions occur, are pro- 
feffedly books treating Oivifionary matters. 
And yet, even in thefe books, (hould 
certain things be related as having really 
taken place, without any intimation of their 
having been tr an faffed in vifion merely, — 
to fbppofe this, feems to be doing fome- 
thing very like violence. But to make 
the fame fuppofition refpe&ing a narrative 
given as a relation of fa£ls which had 
really happened > by any writer profeffing 
himfelf to be a hiftorian of real tranf- 
aftions, — is furely violence in the extreme, 

To juftify his own interpretation, Mr. 
F. further, infills much on the impropriety 

of 



Appendix 1 jy 

of conceiving the writers in queftion to 
mean that Chrift was actually led by the 
Spirit into the wildernefs, becaufe he was 
m the wildernefs already. It was in the 
Jordan, however, where we are given to 
underftand that he was baptized by John : 
and the region bordering on the eaftern 
bank of that river could not be abfolutely 
a defers fince it was an inhabited country, 
though not very populous. But, from 
Mark's account, it appears that Chrift, 
when in the wildernefs, was among the 
■wild beafis ; which circumftance feems to 
be mentioned as an aggravation of his 
trial. It is, therefore, mod natural to un- 
derftand thefe writers as meaning to fay, 
that Chrift was led eaftward into the 
country which was, indeed, a defart with- 
out inhabitants. 

Mr. F. neverthelefs, will have it that 
thefe writers intended to inform us not 
that Chrift was led into the wildernefs, 

but 



12 S appendix. 

but into a wildernefs, i. e. a vifionary wil- 
dernefs. 

Now it is obfervable, that Dr. Samuel 
Clarke, and other fcripture critics, though 
not all of equal celebrity with him, had 
no idea that thefe narratives of the evan- 
gelifts could be fairly interpreted, other- 
wife than as hiftorical relations of matters 
of fafts excepting what is therein faid 
concerning the exhibition of all the king- 
doms of the world, and their glory, in a 
moment of time ; which the doctor fup- 
pofed to have been a diabolical vifion. 

Thefe learned and able commentators, 
being not quite fo enterprifing as Mr. F. 
probably might judge that, in order to 
explain what was obfcure in the ftyle and 
manner of a hiftorian, it was proper to 
have recourfe to other hiftorians, rather 
than to writers of prophecies and vifions: 
and, if the obfcurity was found in the pro- 
duction 



Appendix, 139 

duction of a man who had himfelf written 
another hiftory, perhaps they might judge 
it peculiarly proper to appeal to that other 
hiftory, and allow him to be his own ex- 
pofitor. As Luke, therefore, who w 7 rote 
one of the narratives of the- temptation, 
wrote, likewife, the Hiftory of the Ads 
of the Apoftles, if in this latter hiftory he 
has introduced any accounts ofvi/ions> thefe 
learned commentators would, I imagine, 
inquire in what way they were introduced* 
And if they found him exprejsly declaring 
the extraordinary matters to be vifions, 
fuch as Peter's vifion of a fheet let down 
from heaven with a variety of animals, and 
Paul's direfting him to go into Macedo- 
nia, they would naturally conclude that, if 
he himfelf underftood, and intended his 
readers Ihould underftand, the temptation 
of Chrift to have been a vifion, and no- 
thing elfe, he would have told them fo in 
plain terms, 

Mr. F/s 



1 40 Appendix. 

Mr. F/s zeal in behalf of his new hypo- 
thefis was very great, which we need not 
wonder at; but it feems to have been fome- 
what extravagant when it drew from him 
the following language : cc The text itfelf 
cf (on the letter of which the common hy- 
" pothefis refts as its fole foundation) in- 
" ilead of pofitively and exprefsly affert- 
cc ing, that the temptation of Chrift was a 
" real outward tranfa£tion, contains clear 
" intimations, and even direfit affertionS} of 
c€ the very contrary V 

If fo, can any thing be more wonderful 
than that, till Mr. F. arofe, thefe direct 
ajjertions were never underjiood by men the 
mod learned and intelligent f ?" 

But 

* Inquiry, pp. 40, 41. 

t This is barely within the limits of poflihUity. 
Thofe learned men (Dr. S. Clarke, the great Le 
Clerc, and others mentioned by Mr. F.) would 
never, I am perfuaded, have admitted Mr. F.'s 
conftru&ion of the phrafes in queftion, confider- 

ing 



Appendix. 141 

But the new hypothecs was thought 
convenient^ as being not liable to the objec- 
tions which, in Mr. F/s opinion, might be 
juftly made to the old one. The chief 
objections are, that the common hypo- 
thecs is very difnoncurabie to Chrift. 
That it afcribes to the devil the perform- 
ance of the greateft miracles. That it 
afcribes to the devil the performance of 
things not only preternatural, but abfUrd 
and impoffible, 

Mr. F. has faid much to illuftrate and 
enforce his objections : but it is unnecefTary 
for me to tranfcribe it all. That, how- 
ever, which is to my purpofe, I fhall pro- 
duce (viz.) what he has urged to fliew 
the dijhonour brought upon Chriji by the 

ing ivhere and houu they occur ' unlefs they, too, 
had been fafcinated by the conveniency of it. To me 
it appears a far-fetched conftruction, laboured and 
over- drained, and what even Mr. F. himfelf would 
net have thought of but for a particular purpofe. 

common 



142 Appendix. 

common explication. cc Scarce (faith he) 
" can we preferve upon our minds a ftrffi- 
cc cient reverence of the fanftity and dig- 
<c nity of the Redeemer, when we behold 
cc him in fuch familiar conference with, and 
" under the power of, an unclean fpirit, 
* c who at pleafure tranfports his fovereign 
€C and his judge from place to place, raifes 
" him to the mod confpicuous ftations to 
t( expofe him to public derifion, and wan- 
* c tonly and arrogantly propounds -to him 
€C one foolifh enterprise after another. It 
" fills us with horror, as well as aftonifh- 
" ment, to confider farther that, during all 
cc this tranfadion, Chrift mud have yield- 
< c ed voluntarily to the mere motion and 
" inftigation of the devil. For, though 
u it was by the fpirit of God that he was 
" carried into the wildernefs, yet it was by 
" the devil that he was conveyed from 
cc thence to the temple, and placed upon 
cc its battlements 5 a moft dangerous and 
cc formidable eminence! And, therefore, 
7 " as 



Jlppcndix. 143 

cc as the devil could have no power over 
cc our Lord, unlefs by his free content, 
cc Chrift muft have been acceffary to his 
ci own dishonour, danger, and tempta- 



I fhall new produce what Mr. F. has ad- 
vanced with a view to convince us that the 
reprefentations of a vifion may ferve equally 
as well as the objects of feme for the trial, 
difplay, and improvement of virtue, Buc 
unfortunately in this attempt he has, if I 
miftake not, ruined his grand fcheme. 

Mr. F. aflerts, that cc what is imaginary 
no way differs, in appearance, from that 
u which is real, and has the fame effect 
" upon the prophet ; who does not, at the 
" time, diftinguifh between the images of 
" a vifion and outward obje£ts. If the 
mind (he fays) be paffive, as no doubt 
" it is, in receiving thefe images, and can- 

* Inquiry, pp. 14, 15, 16. 

" not 



144 .Appendix. 

<c not but judge according to appearances; 
cc let it be remembered that juft thus it is 
tc with regard to the impreffion made by 
€C external obje-fis themfdves, and the 
<c ideas they raife in the mind; the will 
<f having no more power to controul our 
" inward views and apprehenfions, in this 
4i latter cafe, than in the former. And as, 
" in both cafes, the mind is alike paffive 
il in receiving imprefiions, fo 3 in ail other 
c < refpe6ls, it may enjoy an equal liberty 
ct in both. Whether the notice of things 
u is conveyed to it by the inftrumentality 
cc of the krSQSy or by a miraculous agency, 
cc it may experience the fame difpofition 
" andfentiments with regard to the things 
cc themfelves. It may be as capable of a 
" right determination and choice, with re- 
" fpect to the reprefentations of a vifion, as 
<f with refpett to the objects of fenfe." 

Now, from the above account of the 
ftate of a perfon's mind, whilft experienc- 
ing 



appendix. *A5 

ing a vifion, it appears we have Mr. F.'s 
own authority to judge, that Chrift, during 
his fuppofed vifion, though paffive in re- 
ceiving the imprejjions, was, in all other re- 
JpeftSy at liberty ; that he muft have felt the 
fame difpofitions and Jentiments> refpedting 
the images impreifed, as he would have 
done if the real objefts, which they repre- 
fented, had been prefent to him ; and that 
he was equally capable of a right determi- 
nation and choice as at any other time, 

Mr. F. himfelf, therefore,. has authoriz- 
ed us to conclude that, though Chrift could 
not, if he would, conceive of his fituation, 
otherwife than as a wildernefs, and though 
he could not, if he would, avoid confider- 
ing himfelf in company with the devil> he 
was, neverthelefs, at liberty to exprefs bis 
abhorrence of fuch fociety, and to determine 
whether or no he would hold conference 
with that evil fpirit. A familiar confer- 
ence, however, took place; from which it 
L appears 



146 Append?*. 

appears, that Chrift knew with whom ht 
was converting, as he called him by his 
name: and, notwithftanding the whole 
tranfadtion be fuppofed a vifion only, the 
charadter of Chrift mull, inevitably, be af- 
fetted juft as if it had been all a reality. 
Moreover, when he imagined hirnfelf con- 
veyed through the air to the battlements 
of the temple, and likewife to the top of 
the mountain, he muft have beenconfcious, 
I think, of giving his voluntary confent*. 
How much foever, therefore, Mr. F.'s re- 
ligious feelings were (hocked by the com- 
mon interpretation, he would derive no 
juft relief from his new hypothefis; which 
leaves the objection, refpedling the dis- 
honour of Chrift, in full force. 

Neither is the obje&ion concerning ab- 

* Even if it were admitted that, in conceiving 
of thefe tranfportations, he was fubject to the over- 
ruling miraculous influence, it is utterly impofli- 
ble that the familiar converfation iliould have been 
other than voluntary. 

furdities 



Appendix. 14,7 

furdities and impoffibilities hereby remov- 
ed: though, indeed, they are no longer 
afcribed to the devil. But abfurdity or 
impoffibility is no more the objed of di- 
vine than of diabolical power. 

After all, I believe, we muft be content 
to take the evangelical narratives of the 
temptation in their plain literal meaning, 
as I doubt not the writers of them intend- 
ed we fhould. The ufe, however, which I 
fhali make of them is, to infer from them 
the propriety ofconfidering well how much 
credit is due to accounts of miracles given 
by writers who were capable ofprefenting 
us mth/ucb ajlery. 



L 2 APPENDIX, 



( U8 ) 

APPENDIX, 

No. II. 



In the year 1792, a pamphlet was pub- 
lifhed, entitled, Remarks on Mr. Gilbert 
Wakefield's Inquiry into the Expediency and 
Propriety of Public and Social Worflrip. It 
was publifhed without a name; but I be- 
lieve it was univerfally afcribed to a lady, 
whofe literary merit has obtained for her 
a large portion of celebrity; and that it 
was juftly afcribed to her, there feems to 
be good internal evidence. Near the con- 
clufion of this pamphlet the reader will 
find what I fhall here tranfcribe. After 
conceding to Mr. W. that a reform in the 
public worfhip was to be wifhed for, and 
after fuggefting fome articles which fhe 
/peaks of as hints offered with diffidence 
and refpeft, the eloquent writer proceeds 

as 



Appendix. 149 

as follows : ce Above all, it would be 
<c defirable to feparate from religion that 
u idea of gloom, which, in this country, 
" has but too generally accompanied it. 
cc The fa£t cannot be denied; the caufe 
i€ mud be fought pardy in our natural 
fC character, which, I am afraid, is not ei- 
" ther very cheerful or very focial, and 
cc which we fhall do well to meliorate by 
" every poffible attention to our habits of 
ic life; — and partly to the colour of our 
<c religious fyftems. No one who embraces 
" the common idea of future torment s> to- 
<( gether with the do6trine of elettion and 
" reprobation, the infufficiency of virtue to 
<f efcape the wrath of God, and the ftrange 
cc abfurdity which, it fhould feem through 
€< fimilarity of found alone, has been ad- 
" mitted as an axiom, that fins committed 
fC againft an Infinite Being do, therefore, 
u deierve infinite punifhment — no one, 
" I will venture to affert, can believe fuch 
" tenets, and have them often in his 
L 3 cc thoughts, 



150 Appendix. 

" thoughts, and yet be cheerful. Whence 
<c a fyftem has arifen fo incompatible with 
€< that juftice and benevolence which, in 
"the dijcourfes of our Saviour, are repre- 
Cf fented as the mod eflential attributes of 
" the Divine Being, is not eafy to trace. 
" It is probable, however, that power, be- 
u ing the moft prominent feature in our 
cc conceptions of the Creator, and that of 
" which we fee the moft ftriking image 
<c here on earth (there being a greater 
cc portion of uncontrouled power, than of 
u unmixed wifdom or goodnefs to be 
" found amongft human beings), the Deity 
" would naturally be likened to an abfo- 
" lute monarch: — and moft abfolute mo- 
(€ narchs, having been tyrants, jealous of 
■ cc their fovereignty, averfe to freedom of 
cc inveftigation, ordering affairs, not with 
« a view to the happinefs of their fubjedls, 
" but to the advancement of their own glo- 
" ry; not to be approached but with rich 
" gifts and offerings j beftowing favours 

" not 



Appendix. 151 

cc not in proportion to merit, but from 
€c the pure influence of caprice and blind 
"partiality; to thofe who have offended 
cc them, fevere and unforgiving, except in- 
cc duced to pardon by the importunate in- 
f * terceflion of fome favourite; confining 
* c their enemies, when they had overcome 
Cf them, in deep, dark dungeons under 
u ground, or putting them to death in the 
" prolonged mifery of excruciating tor- 
cc turesV Thefe features of human depra- 
€C vity have been moft faithfully transfer- 
u red to the Supreme Being; and men 
Cf have imaged to themfelves, how a Ne- 
" ro, or a Domitian, would have adted* 
€s if, from the extent of their dominion, 
" there had been no efcape, and to the du- 
€C ration of it no period, 

c< Thefe ideas of the vulgar belief ter- 

" rible, but as yet vague and undefined, 

cc pa/Ted into the fpeculatians of the fchool- 

a men, by whom they were combined 

L 4 cc with 



152 Jppendlx. 

€c with the metaphyfical idea of eternity, 
" arranged in fpecific propofitions, fixed 
cc in creeds, and elaborated into fyftems, 
ff till at length they have been fublimed 
<c into all the tremendous horrors of the 
<c Calviniftic faith. Thefe doctrines, it 
" is true, among thinking people, are 
'" lofing ground; but there is (till appar- 
" ent, in that clafs called ferious chrif- 
" tians, a tendernefs in expofing them; 
cc a fort of leaning towards them, as, in 
cc walking over a precipice, one fhould 
€C lean to the fafeft fide; an idea that they 
cc are, if not true, &t lead good to be be- 
" lieved; and that & falutary error is better 
<c than a dangerous truth. But that error 
€€ can neither bejalutary nor harmlejs which 
cc attributes to the Deity injujiice and cruelty ; 
€C and that religion mufi have the worfi of 
cc tendencies ', which renders it dangerous for 
<c a man to imitate the being whom he wor- 
" fhips. Let thofe who hold fuch tenets 
cc confider that ithe invifible Creator has 

" no 



Appendix. j 53 

* c no name, and is identified only by his 
u character -, and they will tremble to 
" think what being they are worfhipping, 
<c when they invoke a power capable of 
" producing exijlence in order to continue it in 
" never-ending torments. The God of the 
<c Affembly's Catechifm is not the fame 
" God with the Deity of Thomfon's Sea- 
cc fons, and of Hutchefon's Ethics *.V 

Having prefented the reader with this 
long and interefting quotation, I ihall take 

* In the 25th chapter of Matthew, the God of 
the chrijlians is reprefented as, after a long fuccef- 
lion of ages, conducting the. affairs of the human 
race to a grand confummation : and at the end of 
Thomfon's Winter, he, too, has prefented us with 
the termination of this world's eventful and myf- 
terious fcenes \ which laft moil interefting event 
he has likewife afcribcd to the Divinity whom he 
ivorjhipped. The admired writer, from whom the 
above extract is taken, is requeued to compare 
thefe two reprefentations, and fee how much re- 
femblance fhe can find. 

i the 



£54 Appendix. 

the liberty to obferve, what, in my appre- 
henfion, is generally the cafe, that well - 
difpofed chriftians fit down to read the dif- 
tourfes of Chrift with an unconfcious prede- 
termination to find in them nothing but what 
is good. How fhould they contain any 
thing elfe ? Was not Chrift commiffioncd 
by heaven for the inftrudtion of mankind; 
and, for that purpofe, was he not furnifh- 
ed with that incomparable wifdom which 
defcendeth from above ? And does not 
every pious chriftian parent efteem it his 
duty to imprefs the belief of this upon the 
minds of his infant offspring ? That the 
mind of the remarker upon Mr. W. was 
thus impreffed will not, I imagine, be 
queftioned. But, if that had not been the 
cafe, fhe would not have found even thofe 
parts of the vulgar fyftem, which are molt 
obnoxious to her, at all incompatible with 
the dodtrine which Chrift delivered. On 
the contrary, fhe would have perceived 
that dodtrine to have been the genuine 

Jource 

7 



Appendix. 155 

fource from which fomc, at leaft, of thofe 
obnoxious tenets have fprung; and would, 
therefore, have fpared herfelf the trouble 
of propofing her ingenious conje&ures re- 
fpefting their origin. Had fhe read the 
difcourfes of Chrifi as (he would thofe of 
any other man, with a view to learn what 
they really contained, fhe would, I think, 
have underftood them as clearly holding 
out thefe dogmas. 



'o 1 



That the many, the mafs of human 
beings, are wicked. That the good (com- 
paratively at leaft) are few. That it is the 
defign of God to confer upon the latter, 
in a future (late, an everlafting felicity j 
and to infli6l upon the former the never- 
ending torments of hell; or, however, to 
confign them to long and exquifite mi- 
fery, the termination of which will be the 
period of their exiftence. 

No one ever pretended to fay that Jefus 

Chrift 



156 appendix. 

Chrift reprefented the human race as 
under a courfe of difcipline, which would 
eventually qualify them for a future ilate 
of ultimate virtue and bappinefs; though 
ibme, it is true, have imagined they found 
this, or a fimilar reprefentation, in Paul's 
epiftles. But, if Paul has any where really 
taught this doftrine, fo worthy of the be- 
nevolent and univerfal Parent, how won- 
derful is it that the apcftle fhould have pof- 
feffed the fublime wifdom which his mafter 
wanted ! For, who was that mafter ? A 
perfonage (if we admit his own account) 
fo highly dignified, and of fuch fuperior 
excellence, that he knew all the counfels of 
the Deity, and was truly known by none 
but the Father, i. e. God himfelf. If the 
above doftrine, however, was really taught 
by the apoftle, he has not only contradicted 
his mafter; he has contradided himfelf, as 
will appear to any one who will give him- 
felf the trouble to read the paflage quoted, 
page 6$j of the preceding Apology. 

If, 



Appendix* 1 57 

If, at fome future mod important period, 
agreeably to the do&rine of Chrift, both 
good and bad men (the few and the many) 
fhall be judged by their Maker, and their 
fates finally determined; it is impoffible 

for Mrs. , or a perfon whofe under- 

ftanding is greatly inferior to hers, not to 
fee that the Judge will then do what he 
always intended. Ignorant mortals may 
be wifer to-morrow than to-day; and, 
therefore, their intentions may, to-morrow, 
be different from what they now are. Not 
fo the intentions of the omnifcient Deity. 
But then, if the human race are to be dif- 
pofed of as Chrift has informed us, the 

do&rines fo revolting to Mrs. , the 

do&rines of elettion and reprobation, muft 
inevitably be true. 

Furthermore, it is worthy of ferious 
confideration, that xhtjpirit of punifhment, 
exhibited in the difcourfes of Chrift, is not 
that phiiofopbical fpirit which has for its 

objedt 



158 Appendix. 

objeft the amelioration^ not only of man- 
kind in general, but likewife of the un- 
happy individuals who are punifhed. So 
far from this, the author of chriftianity 
feems, like many others, to have conceived 
that juftice required punifhment and ven- 
geance to be executed on offenders, with- 
out taking any thing further into the ac- 
count: and to me it is evident (if his words 
may be trufted) that, when he fpoke of 
the future punifhment of the wicked mul- 
titude of mankind, nothin^could be more 
diftant from his thoughts^ than their refera- 
ble torments would be 'productive of any 
benefit to them *. 

The 

* Having lately read, with much pleafure, a 
book entitled a Picture of Chriftian Philofophy, 
by R. Fellowes, M. A. I there met with the fol- 
lowing paffage in a note, p. 53, fecorid edition. 

" The eternity of punifhments for temporary 
" offences, and committed by beings who are cover- 
" ed with frailties, feems difficult to be reconciled 
« to that attribute of INFINITE MERCY, or 

" <what. 



Appendix. l$q 

The reipecl which I, in common with 
every one elfe, entertain for the fuppofed 

author 

** <what> with refpecH to an All-psrfefi Being, is the 
"fame thing, that attribute of INFINITE JUS- 
cl TICE, which belongs to the Maker of the uni- 
" verfe, and the Father of mankind. May we not, 
" therefore, infer (I fpeak with deference to older 
u and wifer Theologians), without derogating 
« IN THE LEAST from the truth offcripture, that 
C( thofe palTages which defcribe future punilhments 
<( as eternal, are to be figuratively conftrued ; that 
" they intend pains of long — not of infinite dura- 
" tionj vafi — not irremediable, or never-ceafing of 
<l fUtiion ! The wife ft and belt legiflators among 
" men have never confidered punilhments in any 
u other light, than as conducive to moral amend- 
" mentj — and is it not blafphemy, to fuppofe the 
l< All- wife, AU-juft, and All-merciful will ever 
" infitSl punifliment for its own fake > and without 
" any view to the good, or the reformation of hi?n on 
u whom it is inflided? Let not our ignorance of 
<• the true Scripture idiom, and of Eaftern phrafe- 
" ology, lead us to this climax of folly and pre« 
" fumption! ! 1" 

This appears to be the warm language of an in- 
genuous young man, But nothing, furely, except 

the 



i6o appendix. 

author of the remarks on Mr. W. induces 
me to exprefs my wifhes that (lie may, 

and 

the powerful influence of prejudice, could in- 
duce him to think it favourable to the caufe he is 
pleading. I think it quite the reverfe. His idea 
of the nature and defign of puni/Jiment, in con- 
formity with that of the wifefr. and beft legiflators, 
5s, indeed, moll juft; On the contrary, through- 
out the jewifh and chriftian fcriptures, the Divi- 
nity is reprefented, when inflicting punifliment, 
either as acting like a weak mortal, under the do- 
minion of wrathful pailion, who feeks to revenge 
himfelf for perfonal injury, or elfe (which is cer- 
tainly more dignified) as executing, in a manner 
awful and fo!emn,.the decrees of Vindictive Jufticc . 
If Mr. F. could bring himfelf to read the fcriptures 
as writings which he had never yet feen, and in 
which he had no particular concern, he would find 
what I fay to be true. But he comes prepared by 
the religious impreflions made in his childhood, 
agreeably to the doctrine of AJfociation which he 
has fo well illuftrated. 

To me the fcriptural doctrine of punifliment 
brings its own evidence, that it is not from God, 
but from men) the wifeft of whom, whatever 

were 



Appendix. 16 1 

and hopes that fhe will, do herfelf the juf- 
tice, to inquire what is the real dofirine of 
Jefus Chrift, efpecially as it concerns the 
CHARACTER of the Supreme Being, 
with her mind at perfeSl liberty. 

were their preten (ions, had, tmqueftionably, much 
to learn. 

As Mr. F. has fuppofed that a very long period of 
mifery may be neceflfary, in a future ftate, in or- 
der to exterminate the bad habits acquired by 
wicked men in this, it is to be wifhed he would, 
read the delightful and edifying account of the 
Frifon at Philadelphia by the Duke de la Roche* 
foucault Liancourt. 



M APPENDIX, 



( 1^ ) 

APPENDIX, 

No. III. 



Mr. Anthony Robinson, at the ccn- 
clufion of the fecond edition of his Hi/lory of 
the V erf editions ofChriflians> by Jews, Eea- 
thenS) and Chrtftians *, obfcrves, very na- 
turally, cc Perhaps an inquiring reader will 
u afk, if fo various, fo cruel, and fo fatal 
" have been the perfections of christians, 
" if chriftianity have given ocoafion to fo 
ff much fuffering, if fo many human facri- 
€C fices have been offered up by chriftians 
Cf to their God, is it upon the whole any 
u advantage to the world, that chriftianity 
" has been preached amongft mankind ? — 
cc This is a queftion of great importance; 
cc it will be in vain to reply that thcfe evils 
Cf have arifen from the abufe of chriftianity; 
<c we muft meet it in its full extent, and 



Publifhed by Johnfon, 1794. 



" argue 



Appendix, 163 

** argue the effeft of chriftianity, as it muft 
cc have been forefeen to [by] him who 
<c gave it for a blefling to mankind. This 
<c queftion can only be determined by 
" comparing the good with the evil which 
<c men have received, and which has at* 
<c tended the fpread of chriftianity. The 
4t evil confifts of the perfecutions which 
H we have already given in detail ; but the 
<c good is fo great and various, that it is 
<c difficult fully to ftate it. Men muft 
c€ have fome powerful motive to induce 
* c them to attend to their duty, and the 
" great body of "mankind are incapable of 
cc being attached to their duty, either by 
" prefent intereft^ or by fame. It is little 
u their labour can produce, and they are 
cc too obfcure to excite public attention. 
" Where intereft and fame are alike impo- 
u tent, religion is all-powerful. The gain 
<c and the lofs which this life prefents to 
u them art eafy of eftimation, and infuf- 
ff ficient to infpire them with energy in 
u adtion, or to prevent them from becom- 
M 2 "ing 



164 Appendix* 

€C ing pofitively bad> but the hopes and 
c< fears infpired by chriftianity are as great 
"in their effe&s as their objedt is indefi- 
nite*: we owe it to chriftianity, there- 
" fore, that the common people attend to 
u the ordinary calls of duty; and chrif- 
u tianicy is capable of making them, like- 
<c wife, perform extraordinary ads." 

By way of illuftration, Mr. R. refers to 
Ram fay's Hifiory of the American Revolu- 
Hon, and then proceeds with other obfer- 
vations, all of a fuppofed tendency to fhew 
that the good arifing out of the chriftian 
religion, when compared with the evil it 
has occafioned, preponderates Juperlatively. 

* Mr. R. is certainly .an ingenious and an ener* 
getic, but, I imagine, that he is, like wife, a rapid 
writer 3 which circumftance, it fhould ieem, has 
produced a little inaccuracy: upon reflection, 
however, he would fee, in a moment, 1ft, that in* 
definitevefs admits of no degrees-, and 2ndly, that 
to fay any thing is as great as fome other thing 
which is indefinite, is faying it is as great as we 
Hn&iv ?iot iv/iat, 

1 Ntrverthe- 



Appendix. 165 

Neverthelefs, it has happened to our in- 
genuous author (even as it has happened 
to other inquirers), that he has feen reafon 
to alter his opinion, as appears from a 
very recent publication of his, entitled. An 
Examination of a Sermon preached at Cam- 
bridge, by Robert Hall, M. A. &c. 

It is certainly no difcredit to a man, but 
the contrary, to avow that his prefent opi- 
nions differ from thofe which he formerly 
entertained, when the difference is the re- 
fult of conviction, and he is not even fuf- 
pe&ed of being influenced by finifter views. 
The change which has taken place in 
Mr. R.'s mind being, 1 doubt not, of this 
defcription, I fhall take the liberty to 
quote, from his critique upon Mr. Hall, 
what follows- j. firft obferving that Mr. R. 
is controverting a propofition of the 
preacher, delivered in thefe words r The 
Jceptical) or irreligious Jyftem; fabverts the 
whole foundation of morals* 

M 3 "In 



: i66 Appendix. 

€i In order to eft blifh the propofition 
<c which I have quoted (fays Mr. R..), the 
€C preacher ftates that every man ought to 
< c confuk his own fclfi-fti intereft in all his 
w adions, and that no authority can oblige 
cf him to forego any one perfonal indi- 
" vidua! advantage, except in order ta 
IC obtain a greater advantage by that felf- 
cc denial. 



« c Admitting that this reafoning is true,, 
<c as far as it goes to the eftablilhment of 
" felf-intereft as the foundation of moral 
" obligation, it is certainly not true, that 
" a man does regulate his conduct by any 
" motive of unfocial felf-intereft;. and 
<c without this be proved, it will not fol- 
cc low, that the exclusion of the hopes and 
cc fears of a future world will deftroy the 
<c pradical virtues of life. Morality is at- 
€i tended by mo ft powerful fandions in 
€t this life, which prefs equally upon the 
" atheift, the theift, and the chriftian, and 

" of 



Appendix. 1 67 

c< of which the firft mud ft el the full force. 

<c Morality confifts fin ply in the difcharge 

cf of the duties which flow from the rela- 

" tions which fubfift betwixt men. Man 

" infulated and alone is a being entirely 

" helpiefs, and abfoiutely wretched. So- 

(t ciety is the charm of his exigence, and 

" the balm of his life. To enjoy this fo- 

<c ciety, the individual muft render himfelf 

" agreeable to thofe that furround him ; 

V and, in order to this, he muft refpedt 

u and promote their happinefs. This im- 

a pofes upon him an attention to their 

" wifhes, a refpedt for their rights, and a 

" dread of their violation. He inftantly 

" finds that an enlarged felf-love and lb- 

" cial are the fame. Thus deeply rooted 

" are the fanclions of morality, and of uni- 

" verfal operation; they are not the crea- 

Cf tures of arbitrary inftitution or accidental 

fC difcovery 5 they are bottomed in the na- 

" ture of human beings, and, wherever 

<c man is found connected with his fellow- 

" man, their influence is felt. 

M 4 " Thefe 



1 68 Appendix. 

" Thele natural and eternal fan&ions 
u of virtue operate before it is pojftble to 
" convey to the minds of children religious 
<c notions. The accommodations of in- 
" fancy itfelf, become the great teachers 
<c of morals. Before the child knows, or 
« believes aught of heaven or hell, he 
fC learns to facrifice prefent inclination to 
" procure the advantages of intercourfe 
" and love. It may be affirmed, with as 
" much truth, that the focial paffions de- 
H pend for their exiftence upon religious 
" belief, as that the antifocial demand that 
€C belief to counteract and reft rain their 
" energies, 

" The preacher's argument is very little 
u ftrengthened by his obfervation (p. 12) 
" that all reajontng on morals Juppojes a 
" diftinttion between inclination and duties^ 
cc affeffion and rules. For fcarcely any 
" great objeft of human ambition can be 
" named, which does not require many 
- facrifices, and which is not oppofed by 

" many 



Appendix. . r6g 

"many inclinations of the individual who 
" purfues it. Do we determine upon the 
" acquifition of fortune, how many plea- 
" fures muft we deny ourfelves, and how 
" many vexations muft we encounter in 
c< the purfuit ? Man is continually affailed 
cr by oppofite interefts and defires. Some 
"muft be facrificed; their co-exiftence 
<c and indulgence is impoffible. In de- 
cc termining upon this facriiice, looks he 
u to heaven or to hell ? Ridiculous ! He 
" weighs the importance of each prefent 
" objedt; and purfues that, which, in his 
cc eftimation, is the moft valuable. 

" Morality is the refult of felf-love and 
M iympathy, operating conftantly on the 
cc mind, and forming the chara6ter under 
cf the influence of prefent objefts, of which 
" he will entertain no doubt who examines 
" nature with the fteady eye of the author 
w of The Theory of Moral Sentiments. If 
<c any one queftions whether prefent ob- 

< c je6h 



17° Jppendix. 

<c je£ts afford a fuffirivnt motive for the 
<c reftraint of paffion, and tie correction 
" of defire amidft conten ding interefts, I 
" beg him to obfcrrve the conduct of the 
" mifer, the lover, and the hero. I cali 
€C upon him to leave the field of conje&ure, 
" and to examine the realities of life, and 
" then to tell me how great is the influ- 
" ence of future hopes and fears. 

" It may, perhaps, be faid, thatfo ardent 
Cf a defire after one object as is often dif- 
" coverable in the mifer, the lover, or the 
" hero, can only exift in characters of pe- 
cc culiar ftrength, and that fuch confiftency 
cc in purfuit cannot be expe&ed from com- 
< c mon minds. This may be granted; 
<c but muft it not alfo be granted that a 
<c future hope of poffible good in a world 
cc unknown, and of a nature unknown, re- 
cc quires, in order to influence powerfully, 
cc ftill more extraordinary minds? Let 
" the preacher's theory be put to the teft 

« of 



Appendix. lyx 

u of experience, lr this profpeft of felf- 
cc ifh intereft, and indivicual remuneration 
cf in a future life had any dffc% as it is 
i: infinite and unbounded, reducing all 
ff other interefts to non-entity, it mult an- 
" nihilate all vice, and perfect all chara&er. 
" FaSts fhew us that mixed ftate of things 
c< which refults from paffion, hnperfeftly 
cc reft rained, and felfifhnefs imperfeSily 
a counteracted by the influence of reafon 
" and feeling upon the focial advantages 
cc of life 5 but they difcover to us nothing 
<c in corroboration of the theory of the 
" preacher, or the actual influence of his 
cc future hopes and fears. It may, there- 
" fore, be fairly inferred, that whatever 
" human virtue is, it is by the operation 
" of the aftual circumftances of man, by 
" his prefent hopes and fears, and that a 
" change in the faith of a country, will 
u not effect the morality of it. 

" The real ftate of morals in different 

" countries 



Tf2 Appendix. 

" countries ftrongly enforces this obferva- 
" tion. In China there is no public re- 
"ligion; and in various regions in the 
** Eaft, the dodtrine of a future world is 
" unknown. Many countries have un- 
" dergone an entire revolution in their 
cc religious fyftem, and yet the ftate of 
cf morals is the fame. Indeed, giving an 
cc allowance for the different operation of 
u climate and of the ftate of civilization, 
" upon the human constitution, there is 
<c little variety in the morality of different 
cc countries. In other refpedts, men, fo- 
u cial and dependent men, are every where 
" the fame; and, although profeffing op- 
€t pofite religions, and fome no religion at 
€C all, are eflentially alike in moral con- 
"duft. 

cf It is vain to allege the proper agairrft 
H the aEIual influence of the hopes and fears 
€C of men concerning their future exift- 
* c encej thefe hopes and fears operate, if 

11 they 



appendix. 173 

"they operate at all, upon man\ a creature 
u which we ought to ftudy before we can 
cc know the kind of moral regimen fuita- 
cc ble for him, or pronounce any thing 
"concerning it. If then it be found, in 
"fafiythzt future, diftant, unknown, in- 
K conceivable good, does not conftitute 
c< a motive which influences this animal, 
* in vain we may declaim for ever upon 
" its power, as we may upon that of the 
" magnet, which, although of great influ- 
" ence upon certain bodies, attracts not 
" common earth. The preacher afks, 
" (page 13) What is there to refrain an 
u atheift from the ccmmijjion of crime, when 
cc it flatters with theprcfpeff of impunity, and 
" the certainty of immenfe advantage? I 
" anfwer, his fympathies and his fear of 
" felf- reproach. It is true, that this de- 
cc claimer thinks felf-reproach a folly, 
" where dete&ion can be avoided; but 
<c unlefs filenced by the fophiftry of fuper- 
** ftition, felf-reproach will always accom- 

4C pany 



cc 



1^4 Appendix* 

pany inhumanity of conduit; it flows 
€C from the conftitution of man, and is 
CQ abfolutely unavoidable. 

<c If the preacher think thefe fympathies 
cc too weak, and this fear too foolifh to re- 
* f ftrain atheifts from crime, I demand of 
,<f him to fhew me, what is ftrong where 
<f thefe have been found weak? are the 
*' hopes and fears of a future life ? 

cc Anfwer, ye Conftantines, ye Offas, 

" ye Richards, ye Henrys, ye religious 

" murderers of all ages and nations, did 

xc thefe hopes and fears prevent you from 

" butchering your children, your wives, 

u your connexions ? Let us not forget 

" the aftual effeft of thefe things. The 

" pinnacle of conjecture fuits the religious 

<c aftronomer for his obfervations, he 

cc thence defcries new planets and calcu- 

cc lates their motions; but the vale of rea- 

cc lity becomes him who would lay down 

cf the law for man." 

Now, 



Appendix. 175 

Now, though I am not prepared to 
fubfcribe to the whole of this latter extra£? y 
I think it contains important truth, fhews 
the writer's ability, and affords very farif- 
fadiory reafon for judging that, of the 
Quantity of good which has exifted in the 
world during the laft feventeen or eigh- 
teen centuries, a much /mailer proportion, 
than is generally apprehended, ought to 
be attributed to the chriftian religion. 
Let us take the advice of Mr. R. let us 
examine the realities of life, and we fhall not 
remain long in doubt how bad men are 
deterred from crimes. They are not de- 
terred by future punifhrnents, but by the 
law of the land. What religious man, who 
believes mod, would efteem his life and 
property fafe, if they were only protected 
by the fear of hell ? The truth is, the hor- 
rible and everlalting punifhments of the 
chriftian religion defeat their own pur- 
pofe. They are not believed; they are 
perceived to be inconfijlent both witbjufiice 

and 



1^6 jtippcndix. 

and mercy : befidesthac men in general will 
ever be (as nature intended they fhould) 
influenced by objefts prefent, whofe power 
over their happinefs they have experienc- 
ed, rather than by obje&s in a diftant and 
unknown world. If, indeed, men did tho- 
roughly believe that infinite happinefs or 
mifery did certainly await them in a future 
ftate, they would be fo overwhelmed by 
the confideration, as to be altogether dif- 
qualified for the offices of life. This, it 
fhould feem, was the cafe of fome, when 
there was more faith upon the earth. 
What opinion can one entertain of thofe 
early chriftians, who were fo defirous of 
the crown of martyrdom, and fo earned 
to take poffeffion of eternal felicity, as to 
vbtrude themfelves on their perfecutors, 
contrary, even, to their mailer's injunc- 
tion ? And, in later times, inftances have 
not been wanting of/anguine perfons fran- 
tic with unutterable joy, while others, of 
a melancholy complexion, have endured 

torments 



appendix. 177 

torments fimilar to what arc fuppofed to 
be the lot of the damned. But, at prefent, 
the number of true> cordial^ chrijiian be* 
lievers is not great among the multitude 
profefiing chriftianity. 

Neverthelefs, whatever has been the de- 
gree of faith abtually exifting in the minds of 
certain men calling themfelves chriftians, 
they have perfecuted their fellow-chrif- 
xizxi^ even to deaths for not believing creeds 
diftatcd by the perfecutors and by them 
ityled orthodox ; and thefe chriftian per- 
fecutors have reprefented fuch murder as 
a chriftian duty. This practice, more- 
over, has not been confined to one age, 
or even to one century: infomuch, that 
the annals of the church have been, with 
great propriety, termed, annals of blood. 

The genuine fpirit of chriftianity is, 

doubtlefs, a fpirit of benevolence* and, af- 

furedly, many chriftians in all ages have, 

N more 



178 jfppendix. 

more or Iefs, imbibed it: but it happens* 
unfortunately (as a little refleftion will 
fhew us), that our power to do hurt and 
injury greatly exceeds our power of doing 
good* A man who can do nothing elfe, 
may, in a moment, by a fingle a£t (a mur- 
der fuppofe) do mifchief incalculable: 
while, in order to a good man's effe&ing 
any thing greatly and extenfively benefi- 
cial* many circumftances muft come in 
aid of his benevolence. Now chriftianity 
has, in faff, fupplied fuel to the worft of 
human paflions: and dreadfully far have 
the effefls of chriftian rancour and animo- 
fity extended. 

But the fpirit of chriftianity is alfo a 
fpirit of flavifh and implicit belief, hoftile 
to intellectual improvement *. 

Confidering, then, that the mafs of man- 
kind is little influenced by religious be- 

* See Apology, pp, 107, 108, 10p, 110, 111. 
I lief, 



Appendix, 1 79 

lief, confidering that the genuine influence 
cfchrijlian belief is, in fome refpe&s, un- 
favourable to human happinefs, confidering 
that, though chriftianity did not authorize, 
it has eventually given ocufion to } the moft 
cruel and deftruttive wars, and like wife to 
fyftematical and ingenious tortures, inflidt- 
ed by chriftians on their chriflian brethren 
—I own it appears to me very doubtful 
whether the quantity of evil refuking from 
the chriftian religion, be not more than 
equal to the quantity of good which it has 
produced. 

To many refledting perfons it feems im« 
probable, in the higheft degree, that the 
Author of Nature, who communicates his 
gifts to us by the operations of nature, 
agreeably to the eftablifhed laws of the 
univerfe, fhould break in upon thofe laws, 
by miraculous operations, in order to 
communicate good to us. And indeed, 
by philofophical men, who are chriftians, 
N 2 it 



180 appendix. 

it is admitted to be incredible, excepting 
where that great and wife Being has in 
view fome objeft of the firft magnitude 
and importance. But this was the cafe, 
they apprehend*^ with refpeft to what 
are termed the jewifh and chriftian reve- 
lations; the objeft of the one having been 
to preferve the faith of the Divine Unity 
among the chofen people, which faith 
among the reft of the human fpecies was 
loft i the objeft of the other, to reform the 
world of mankind, fo deeply corrupted 
with vice and wickednefs. Thus good 
Dr. Watts, fpeakingofthe Eternal Deity, 
fays, 

41 He faw the nations lie 
44 All perifhing in fin, 
44 And pitied their fad ftate," Sec 

Now in the jewilh hiftory we have an 
account not only of miracles for the intro- 
duff ion of the Mofaic religion, we find 

there 



Jppendiw 1 8 

there a feries of miracles occurring at in- 
tervals during a long period. But as faith, 
even faith in the Divine Unity, is only 
valuable in order to fomething further, 
can any reasonable man think the Deity 
would miraculoufly interpofe merely to 
furnifh fuch a wretched people with this 
important article of belief, which, in faft y 
has proved no more beneficial to them ? 
Efpecially, can any man, who ferioufly 
refle&s, conceive it poffible for the Su- 
preme Being to communicate to thefe He- 
brews fuch a reprefentation of himfelf as 
appears in their writings * ? 

With refpe£t to the fuppofed obje£i of 
what is termed the chriftian revelation, 
x>ne would be almoft perfuaded, that it 
was worth while to introduce tniracles for 
fuch a purpofe, were it accompliihec^ 
But what do we learn from hiftory and 

* See Apology, pp. 6g and 7© j alfo the greater 
part of fe£tion 1ft. 

expe- 



1 82 appendix. 

experience? What has been the -con* 
dition of mankind fince the promulgation 
of chriftianity ? Since that happy ^era, 
have men become wife, and juft, and be- 
nevolent? Are they, now, fuch? And 
does every region of the earth exhibit the 
delightful fcenes of virtuous happinefs? 

It is to be expedited, when an intelligent 
man propofes to himfelf fome great objeft, 
he will choofe the proper means of attain- 
ing it. However, if human defigns prove 
abortive, we are not greatly furprifed. 
But, that Infinite Intelligence fhould form 
a fcheme for the benefit of the human 
race, that this fcheme fhould fail, and that 
Infinite Intelligence (hould be difappointed 
—this is, indeed, very aftonifhing. Ne- 
verthelefs, we mud believe it to be true, 
if we believe the truth of the chriftian re- 
velation; unlefs we believe the reforma- 
tion of the world never was the objett of 
that revelation. The Calvinifts, upon 

this 



utippendix. 1 83 

this head, feem more confident than fome 
other chriftians: they believe that the 
object of chriftianity was not the reforma- 
tion of the world, but the fahation of God's 
eletty which they believe will certainly be 
accomplifhed : for, fay they (and they fay 
well), the defigns of the Omnifcient and 
the Almighty can never f rove abortive. 



THE END. 



Lately publi/hedby the fame Author, 

I. HINTS and ESSAYS, THEOLOGI- 
CAL and MORAL ; intended briefly to expofe 
the corrupt Principles of Calvinifra. 

Price 2S. 6d. 



II. ESSAYS, meant as an Offering in Sup- 
port of Rational Religion. 

Price 2s. 6d. 

"Printed for J. Johnson, in St. Paul's Church- 
Tard, London. 



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